Real-Time Intracellular Temperature Imaging Using Lanthanide-Bearing Polymeric Micelles
Rafael Piñol, Justyna Zeler, Carlos D. S. Brites, Yuanyu Gu, Pedro Téllez, Albano N. Carneiro Neto, Thiago Elias da Silva, Raquel Moreno‐Loshuertos, Patricio Fernández‐Silva, Ana Gallego, Luis Martínez‐Lostao, A. Martínez, Luís D. Carlos, Ángel Millán
Abstract
Measurement of thermogenesis in individual cells is a remarkable challenge due to the complexity of the biochemical environment (such as pH and ionic strength) and to the rapid and yet not well-understood heat transfer mechanisms throughout the cell. Here, we present a unique system for intracellular temperature mapping in a fluorescence microscope (uncertainty of 0.2 K) using rationally designed luminescent Ln3+-bearing polymeric micellar probes (Ln = Sm, Eu) incubated in breast cancer MDA-MB468 cells. Two-dimensional (2D) thermal images recorded increasing the temperature of the cells culture medium between 296 and 304 K shows inhomogeneous intracellular temperature progressions up to ∼20 degrees and subcellular gradients of ∼5 degrees between the nucleolus and the rest of the cell, illustrating the thermogenic activity of the different organelles and highlighting the potential of this tool to study intracellular processes.