An imidazo-pyridin derivative as fluorescent probe for the peroxynitrite detection in pulmonary permissive hypercapnia

The physiological and pathological processes in lungs indicated that ONOO- acted as an informative indicator for pulmonary functioning status with the corresponding dynamics, especially in permissive hypercapnia. Herein, for the peroxynitrite (ONOO-) detection and imaging in living lung cells, an imidazo-pyridin derived fluorescent probe IDPD-ONOO was developed. IDPD-ONOO recognized ONOO- to exhibit a corresponding fluorescence response at 490 nm with the excitation wavelength at 355 nm. The advantages of the developed probe included practical linear range (0-100 μM), high sensitivity (Limit of Detection 0.005 μM), rapid response (within 15 min), pH tolerance (7.0-9.0), high selectivity, and low cyto-toxicity. Furthermore, IDPD-ONOO achieved the pulmonary intracellular imaging of both the exogenous and endogenous ONOO- level, which was meaningful for the research on the pulmonary physiological and pathological mechanism with optimized optical implements.