Low molecular weight Neutral Boron Dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyads for fluorescence-based neural imaging

• Neurons are important for passing on information in the brain.
• Imaging neurons is important to understand why they fail to work.
• We have prepared the first low molecular weight neutral dyes for imaging neurons.
• The alteration in fluorescence from the dyes is used to monitor electrical response of crab neurons.

The neutral low molecular weight julolidine-based borondipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyads JULBD and MJULBD were used for fast voltage-sensitive dye imaging of neurons in the crab stomatogastric ganglion. The fluorescence modulation of the dyads mirrors alterations in the membrane potential of the imaged neurons. The toxicity of the dyes towards the neurons is related to their structure in that methyl groups at the 3,5 positions results in reduced toxic effects.

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