Bioimaging of nitric oxide with fluorescent indicators based on the rhodamine chromophore

Anal Chem. 2001 May 1;73(9):1967-73. doi: 10.1021/ac001136i.

Abstract

Diaminofluoresceins are widely used for detection and imaging of nitric oxide (NO), but for biological applications, they have the disadvantages that the fluorescence of the fluorescein chromophore is pH-sensitive and overlaps the autofluorescence of cells. We have developed a membrane-permeable fluorescent indicator for NO based on the rhodamine chromophore, DAR-4M AM, which can be excited with 550-nm light. The fluorescence quantum yield of the product after reaction with NO is 840 times higher than that of DAR-4M. The detection limit of NO was 7 nM, and the fluorescence showed no pH dependency above pH 4. DAR-4M AM was successfully applied to practical bioimaging of NO produced in bovine aortic endothelial cells.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aorta / cytology
  • Brain / metabolism
  • Cattle
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Endothelium, Vascular / chemistry
  • Endothelium, Vascular / cytology
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Male
  • Molecular Structure
  • Nitric Oxide / analysis*
  • Photomicrography
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Rhodamines / chemistry*
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Rhodamines
  • Nitric Oxide