A new long-wavelength fluorescent probe for tracking peroxynitrite in live cells and inflammatory sites of zebrafish

Abstract

Peroxynitrite (OONO⁻), as a reactive oxygen species (ROS), would be mostly profoundly implicated in diseases such as inflammation in organisms. However, bioimaging of ONOO⁻ still faces difficulties owing to the shortage of bioimaging and real-time dynamic tracking distribution of ROS in inflammation. To address this challenge, we designed and synthesized a long-wavelength fluorescent probe based on tricyanofuran (ACDM-BE), which exhibits a fast response (response time is 40 s), high selectivity and great sensitivity (LOD is approximately 21 nM) towards ONOO⁻. ACDM-BE was shown to be capable of detecting ONOO⁻ in living cells and monitor the changes in ONOO⁻ levels under the stimulus of various concentrations of SIN-1 (from 100 to 700 μM), which was successfully tracked by the fluorescence changes in live cells. It is worth noting that ACDM-BE further demonstrated its ability to track the dynamic changes of the level of ONOO⁻ in the inflammatory sites of larval zebrafish. Thus, ACDM-BE could be employed as an efficient tool for exploiting the role of ONOO⁻ in inflammation in living biosystems.