Optical Imaging Opportunities to Inspect the Nature of Cytosolic Iron Pools

The chemical nature of intracellular labile iron pools (LIPs) is described. By virtue of the kinetic lability of these pools, it is suggested that the isolation of such species by chromatography methods will not be possible, but rather mass spectrometric techniques should be adopted. Iron-sensitive fluorescent probes, which have been developed for the detection and quantification of LIP, are described, including those specifically designed to monitor cytosolic, mitochondrial, and lysosomal LIPs. The potential of near-infrared (NIR) probes for in vivo monitoring of LIP is discussed.

Automated summary

This article describes the chemical nature of intracellular labile iron pools (LIPs) and suggests that mass spectrometric techniques should be adopted to isolate such species due to the kinetic lability of these pools. It also introduces iron-sensitive fluorescent probes developed for the detection and quantification of LIP, including those designed to monitor cytosolic, mitochondrial, and lysosomal LIPs, and discusses the potential of near-infrared (NIR) probes for in vivo monitoring of LIP.