A novel fluorescent probe for the detection of nitric oxide in vitro and in vivo

Fluorescence imaging of nitric oxide (NO) in vitro and in vivo is essential to developing our understanding of the role of nitric oxide in biology and medicine. Current probes such as diaminofluorescein depend on reactions with oxidized NO products, but not with nitric oxide directly, and this limits their applicability. Here we report the formation of an imaging probe for nitric oxide by coordinating the highly fluorescent chemical 4-methoxy-2-(1H-naphtho[2,3-d]imidazol-2-yl)phenol (MNIP) with Cu(II). The coordination compound MNIP–Cu reacts rapidly and specifically with nitric oxide to generate a product with blue fluorescence that can be used in vitro and in vivo. In the present study MNIP–Cu was used to reveal nitric oxide produced by inducible nitric oxide synthase in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages (Raw 264.7 cells) and by endothelial nitric oxide synthase in endothelial cells (HUVEC). MNIP–Cu was also used to evaluate the distribution of nitric oxide synthesis in a model of acute liver injury induced by LPS and d-galactosamine in mice. The results demonstrate that MNIP–Cu can act as a novel fluorescent probe for nitric oxide and has many potential applications in biomedical research.