Highly sensitive near-infrared fluorescent probe for monitoring peroxynitrite in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: Toward early diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) poses a significant global health concern, necessitating precise diagnostic tools and effective treatment strategies. Peroxynitrite (ONOO ^- ), a reactive oxygen species, plays a pivotal role in NAFLD pathogenesis, highlighting its potential as a biomarker for disease diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation. This study reports on the development of a near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probe, designated DRP-O, for the selective detection of ONOO ^- with high sensitivity and photostability. DRP-O exhibits rapid response kinetics (within 2 min) and an impressive detection limit of 2.3 nM, enabling real-time monitoring of ONOO ^- dynamics in living cells. Notably, DRP-O demonstrates excellent photostability under continuous laser irradiation, ensuring reliable long-term monitoring in complex biological systems. We apply DRP-O to visualize endogenous ONOO ^- in living cells, demonstrating its potential for diagnosing and monitoring NAFLD-related oxidative stress. Furthermore, DRP-O effectively evaluates the efficacy of therapeutic drugs in NAFLD cell models, underscoring its potential utility in drug screening studies. Moreover, we confirm DRP-O to enable selective identification of fatty liver tissues in a mouse model of NAFLD, indicating its potential for the early diagnosis of NAFLD. Collectively, DRP-O represents a valuable tool for studying ONOO ^- dynamics, evaluating drug efficacy, and diagnosing NAFLD, offering insights into novel therapeutic strategies for this prevalent liver disorder.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)