Detection of hypochlorous acid fluctuation via a selective fluorescent probe in acute lung injury cell and mice models

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a diffuse inflammatory damage in pulmonary caused by excessive ROS breaking the coordination of normal physiological structures and functions. Hypochlorous acid (HClO), one of the ROS, is a hopeful biological marker for inflammation-related diseases. Therefore, excessive generation of HOCl might be a significant reason for oxidative injury of ALI. Herein, we developed a fluorescent probe, BCy-HOCl, for quantitatively monitoring and visualizing HOCl in living cells and in vivo. The probe BCy-HOCl displayed a significant fluorescence signal enhancement towards HOCl with excellent selectivity and sensitivity. The variation of HOCl in ALI cell model and ALI mice model was evaluated with BCy-HOCl to clarify the relationship between ALI and HOCl. Our results verified that the HOCl levels conspicuously increased with the severity of ALI. Thus, HOCl is likely to play a crucial part in the process of ALI, and this probably provides the new strategy for the treatment of ALI.