Recent Progress on Fluorescent Probes for the Detection of Methylglyoxal

Methylglyoxal (MGO), as a highly active carbonyl compound, plays an important role in physiological and pathological processes. As a glycosylation agent, MGO can react with proteins, DNAs and lipids to form advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which leads to protein dysfunctions and cell death, and then causes a series of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, inflammation, diabetes and so on. Therefore, it is important to develop an efficient, rapid and in situ method for detecting intracellular MGO. Fluorescent probes have been widely used in the detection of MGO in biological systems due to their advantages of good selectivity, high sensitivity and non-invasiveness. In this review, the research progress on fluorescence probes of MGO is summarized and the design concept, recognition mechanism and biological application are emphasized in recent years. Finally, the prospect to design and applications of fluorescence probes for MGO is also discussed.