Advances in the development of fluorescence probes for cell plasma membrane imaging

Cell plasma membrane, the boundary between an individual live cell and its microenvironment, plays important roles in cellular communication and signaling, and associates with many physiological and pathological processes. For better understanding the membrane-related biological processes, a number of fluorescent probes have been developed in the past few years. According to their different functions and targeting mechanisms, we herein provide an overview of the advances in the development of fluorescent probes for cell plasma membrane biology and biophysics research. Fluorescent probes specific for cell plasma membrane labelling are initially discussed based on their different targeting mechanisms, which is followed by the summary of membrane-targeting responsive fluorescence probes for various biomolecules detection. Challenges and future research directions for the development of new generation fluorescent probes for cell plasma membrane dynamics investigations are outlined in the end. [Display omitted] •Cell plasma membrane structures and functions were introduced.•Fluorescence probes for cell plasma membrane labelling were reviewed.•Responsive probes for biomolecules detection on cell plasma membrane were summarized.•Challenges and future perspectives for the development of cell plasma membrane fluorescence probes were discussed.