Monitoring Membrane Properties and Apoptosis Using Membrane Probes of the 3-Hydroxyflavone Family

Environment-sensitive fluorescent membrane probes are attractive tools for investigating the membrane properties and their changes under perturbing conditions. Membrane probes of the 3-hydroxyflavone family are of particular interest due to their excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) reaction, which confers a dual emission highly sensitive to the polarity and hydration of the environment. In the present work, we will describe the protocols used with these probes in order to monitor the physicochemical properties of lipid membrane models and cell plasma membranes and to detect apoptosis.