◆ The research findings of a group led by Associate Professor Yosuke Niko of the Interdisciplinary Science Division in the School of Integrated Sciences have been published in "Chemical Science," an international academic journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
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Development of a novel fluorescent probe for high-resolution visualization of cell morphology and dynamics in living mice
~Hopes for its application in disease detection, elucidation of disease mechanisms, and drug discovery research~
A research group led by Associate Professor Yosuke Niko of the Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Faculty of Integrated Sciences, Kochi University, and Takumi Uemura (who graduated in 2023) of the Department of Chemical and Life Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, in collaboration with Associate Professor Ryosuke Kawakami of the Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University,and Professor Takeshi Imamura of the Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University, has developed a novel fluorescent probe, "dSQ12AQ," capable of visualizing the morphology and dynamics of cells within highly light-scattering tissues, such as bone marrow and skin, in live mice at high resolution.
従来の細胞膜染色用蛍光プローブは水への分散性が低く（< 1 mg/mL で沈殿）、生体への安全な投与が困難でした。本研究では、高輝度スクアライン発色団に新たに設計した陰イオン性アンカー基を2つ導入することで、助溶媒（DMSOなど）を用いずとも10 mg/mL以上の高濃度で水分散可能なプローブの開発に成功。これにより、安全な生体投与と高感度な蛍光観察を両立しました。
When this probe was administered intravenously to mice, it selectively stained the cell membranes of a diverse range of cells, including blood cells flowing through intramedullary blood vessels, as well as keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and sweat duct cells present in the epidermis and dermis of the skin.Furthermore, using state-of-the-art two-photon excitation microscopy (2PM), we succeeded in visualizing the morphology and movements of these cells (e.g., blood cell flow and adhesion) in real time and with high resolution.These findings are expected to contribute not only to the detection and elucidation of the pathogenesis of diseases in which abnormal cell morphology is prominent, such as cancer and inflammatory diseases, but also to applications such as the evaluation of stem cell differentiation potential and the assessment of immune cell activity.
These findings were published in June 2025 in *Chemical Science*, the flagship journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
[Paper Information]
Published in: Chemical Science
Title: Bright and Water-Dispersible Membrane Probes Enable Visualization of Cellular Morphologies and Dynamics in Light-Scattering Tissues of Living Mice
DOI: 10.1039/D5SC03047A
Authors: Takumi Uemura1, Ryosuke Kawakami2, Hitomi Seki1, Satoshi Yoshida3, Masamoto Murakami4,5, Takeshi Imamura2, Shingo Hadano1, Shigeru Watanabe1, and Yosuke Niko1,6
(1 Department of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Faculty of Education and Research, Kochi University; 2 Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University; 3 Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime University; 4 Division of Histochemistry, Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Miyazaki University; 5 Department of Geriatric and Environmental Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya City University; 6 Center for Photomedicine, Faculty of Medicine, Kochi University)