Fluorescent sterol probes for intracellular transport, imaging, and therapeutics

Sterols play a significant role in many physiological processes affecting membrane organization, transport, permeability, and signal transduction. The development of fluorescent sterol analogs that have immediate functional relevance to the nat-ural biomolecules is one approach to understanding the sterol -driven physiological processes. Visualizing cellular compart-ments with tailor-made fluorescent molecules through specific labeling methods enables organelle targeting and reveals dy-namic information. In this review, we focus on the recent literature published between 2020 and 2022, with particular emphasis on extrinsic fluorophores and their investigations of sterol-driven biological processes involving sterol transport, biomolecular interactions, and biological imaging.

Automated summary

This review focuses on recent literature published between 2020 and 2022, with particular emphasis on the use of extrinsic fluorophores to study sterol-driven biological processes, including sterol transport, biomolecular interactions, and biological imaging.