Despite the advancement of molecular imaging techniques, there is an unmet need of probes for directly imaging membrane dynamics of live cells. Here we report a novel type of active (or enzyme responsive) probes to directly image membrane dynamics of live cells with high spatial and temporal resolution over extended timescales and areas. Because lipid rafts enrich cholesterols and GPI-anchored enzymes (e.g., ectophosphatases), we design probes that consist of an enzymatic trigger, a fluorophore, and a cholesterol and exhibit high affinity for lipid rafts. Being water soluble and as the substrate of ectophosphatase, these cell compatible probes preferentially and rapidly assemble in plasma membrane, exhibit strong fluorescence, work at micromolar concentrations, and easily achieve high resolution monitoring of nanoscale heterogeneity in membranes of live cells, the release of exosomes, and the membrane dynamics of live cells. This work provides a facile means to link membrane dynamics and heterogeneity to cellular processes for understanding the interactions between membranes and proteins.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 November 2025.
All research outputs
#10,201,802
of 31,482,640 outputs
Outputs from Journal of the American Chemical Society
#39,390
of 81,680 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#136,796
of 358,189 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of the American Chemical Society
#320
of 553 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 31,482,640 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 81,680 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.4. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 50% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 358,189 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 553 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
