A hepatocyte-specific fluorescent probe for imaging endogenous carbon monoxide release in vitro and in vivo

A novel single-component fluorescent probe HCP using N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) as the hepatocyte-specific moiety and 3-nitrophthalimide as the fluorescent reactive unit was designed and synthesized to specifically detect hepatocellular carbon monoxide (CO) in vitro and in vivo. The spectral experimental results indicate that HCP displayed high selectivity to CO and could be used to detect trace CO in an aqueous solution with a prominent fluorescent response (more than 80 times). Bioimaging results show that HCP could specifically transport to asialoglycoprotein receptor overexpressed HepG2 cells and could image endogenous CO release in HepG2 cells and the liver of zebrafish in situ during acute liver injury.