This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Researchers from the University of Bath have developed fluorescent molecular probes that can detect changes in glucose levels inside living animals, giving scientists new ways of visualizing sugar uptake and studying diabetes, cancer and other metabolic diseases in whole organisms in real time. The findings are published in the journal Advanced Science.
Carbohydrates such as glucose play essential roles in energy metabolism and diabetes, yet monitoring them inside living tissues remains a major scientific challenge. The interdisciplinary team designed fluorescent molecular probes that combine chemicals called boronic acids, which selectively bind to sugars, with advanced imaging technologies capable of visualizing molecular behavior inside living systems. The probes were able to detect changes in glucose levels in both cultured cells and living zebrafish.
"Our work demonstrates that synthetic carbohydrate-recognizing probes can monitor glucose-related processes in living organisms in real time," said professor Sofia I. Pascu, from the university's Department of Chemistry and one of the study's corresponding authors. "This represents an important step toward next-generation tools for investigating metabolic disorders and developing precision diagnostic technologies." The researchers combined the probes with multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (MP-FLIM), an advanced technique that measures subtle changes in lifetime (how long a fluorescence signal lasts), instead of simply measuring brightness.
This approach enabled the team to visually map which cells absorb and use sugars in real time within a living system. To test whether the technology could work in vivo, the team used zebrafish, a widely used model organism for metabolic research. Several probes accumulated strongly in the digestive system of zebrafish larvae, where their fluorescence changed in response to an external glucose challenge.
They also used the same approach to successfully distinguish insulin-deficient zebrafish carrying a diabetes-like mutation from healthy siblings. The diabetic fish showed significantly reduced fluorescence due to their elevated glucose levels, demonstrating the probe's ability to detect glucose changes within a living vertebrate organism. David Gurevich, corresponding author and Sir Henry Dale Wellcome Trust research fellow in the university's Department of Life Sciences, said, "Our results show that synthetic boronic acid–based fluorescent probes can report on glucose fluctuations caused by both external sugar exposure and insulin deficiency in a living organism.
"This could give researchers a new way to connect changes in glucose with the biological effects of metabolic and other diseases." Beyond glucose monitoring, the researchers believe the platform could be adapted to detect other biologically important carbohydrates and metabolic markers. Since abnormal carbohydrate metabolism is a hallmark of diseases including diabetes and many cancers, the technology could ultimately support earlier diagnosis, drug discovery and personalized treatment strategies. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly.
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