Recent developments of fluorescent probes for detection and bioimaging of nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule implicated in numerous physiological and pathological conditions. NO homeostasis is crucial to its proper functions and misregulation of NO production is implicated in a large number of pathologies. The effect of NO depends on the cell microenvironment as well as its concentration, spatial, and temporal constraints. Thus, the visualization and monitoring of NO in living systems would be valuable for understanding the origin, activities, and biological effects of NO. This review focuses on organic small-molecule fluorescent probes for selective detection and imaging of endogenous NO in vitro and in vivo. The progress suggests that fluorescence imaging is a vital and rapidly technology for real-time detection of NO in biological system.