Monitoring microenvironment of Hep G2 cell apoptosis using two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy

Apoptosis is very important for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis and is closely related to the occurrence and treatment of many diseases. Mitochondria in cells play a crucial role in programmed cell death and redox processes. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(P)H) is the primary producer of energy in mitochondria, changing NAD(P)H can directly reflect the physiological state of mitochondria. Therefore, NAD(P)H can be used to evaluate metabolic response. In this paper, we propose a noninvasive detection method that uses two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (TP-FLIM) to characterize apoptosis by observing the binding kinetics of cellular endogenous NAD(P)H. The result shows that the average fluorescence lifetime of NAD(P)H and the fluorescence lifetime of protein-bound NAD(P)H will be affected by the changing pH, serum content, and oxygen concentration in the cell culture environment, and by the treatment with reagents such as H2O2 and paclitaxel. Taxol (PTX). This noninvasive detection method realized the dynamic detection of cellular endogenous substances and the assessment of apoptosis.