Utility and Limitations of the Methyl Diaminobenzene-BODIPY Fluorescent Biosensor for Detecting Methylglyoxal in Cells

Abstract

Methylglyoxal (MG) is a small and highly reactive byproduct of multiple metabolic reactions. In mammalian cells, MG serves important roles in cell signaling, but elevated levels of MG are toxic and contribute to the progression of many diseases, including autoimmune conditions and cancer. The study of MG is hampered by the lack of simple, accurate, and well-validated detection techniques. Here, we evaluate the previously reported methyl diaminobenzene-BODIPY (MBo) fluorescent probe by testing the detection of MG in solution, cell lysates, and live cells, using both plate reader and flow cytometry methods. We show that the MBo probe detects MG with a low nanomolar limit of detection in PBS an..