Real-time monitoring of vesicle pH in an endocytic pathway using an EGF-conjugated two-photon probe

Abstract

Herein, we developed a ratiometric two-photon probe (BHS3–EGF), derived from a pH sensitive dye and epidermal growth factor (EGF), for real-time monitoring and quantitative analysis of acidic luminal pH values during endocytic pathway activity. Two-photon microscopy imaging with BHS3–EGF allows the quantitative analysis of pH distributions of single vesicles and their dynamics in receptor-mediated endocytosis in real-time.