In vivo imaging of hepatocellular nitric oxide using a hepatocyte-targeting fluorescent sensor

Imaging of hepatocellular nitric oxide (NO) in vivo is of great importance for understanding its roles in liver diseases, but such an imaging approach is still lacking. Herein, a hepatocyte-targeting fluorescent NO sensor has been fabricated. This sensor exhibits good water solubility, excellent selectivity, and high sensitivity (approximate to 1.62 nM). The cells and in vivo imaging experiments reveal that Gal-RhB facilitates the visualization of hepatocellular NO in both HepG2 cells and zebrafish. These results demonstrate that Gal-RhB may be a promising tool for studying the function of NO in NO-associated liver diseases.