Endoplasmic reticulum-targeting fluorescence turn-on probe for nitric oxide detection in living cells and serum samples

A novel endoplasmic reticulum-targeted NO fluorescent probe ER-Np has been successfully developed with 1,8-naphthimide. ER-Np has advantage of easy preparation, high selectivity, sensitivity and ER-targetable ability toward NO. ER-Np could monitoring exogenous/endogenous NO in living cells and visualize NO in endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, ER-Np could be further applied to detect serum NO levels in epilepsy, which opens up a new avenue for further understanding the relationship between the diagnostic of epilepsy. [Display omitted] •A novel endoplasmic reticulum-targeted NO fluorescent probe ER-Np was developed.•High selectivity, sensitivity and ER-targetable ability toward NO with ER-Np.•Monitoring exogenous/endogenous NO in living cells and endoplasmic reticulum.•ER-Np was applied to detect serum NO levels in epilepsy. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important gas signaling molecule, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress induced by NO may be related to the pathogenesis of many diseases. Therefore, the development of ER-targeted fluorescent probes for NO is of great significance to investigate the relationship between ER stress and NO concentration changes in related diseases. Herein, an ER-targeted fluorescent probe (ER-Np) for sensing NO was constructed. ER-Np was served as an excellent tool for detection NO with high selectivity, sensitivity and ER-targetable ability. Moreover, fluorescence imaging experiments indicated that ER-Np is capable of imaging NO in living cells. Impressively, visualization of endogenous NO production during dithiothreitol (DTT)-induced ER stress in living cells was successfully observed. In addition, we found that serum NO levels were upregulated in epilepsy children, which opens up a new avenue for further understanding the relationship between the diagnostic of epilepsy.