Nitric Oxide Photoreleasers with Fluorescent Reporting.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a multifaceted role in human physiology and pathophysiology and its controlled delivery has great prospect in therapeutic applications.  The light-activated NO uncaging from NO caging compounds allows this free radical to be released with accurate control of site and dosage, which strictly determine its biological effects. Molecular constructs able to activate fluorescence concomitantly to NO release offer the important advantage of the easy and real-time tracking of the amount of NO uncaged in a non-invasive fashion even in cell environment. In this contribution, we seek to provide an overview of the advances in photoactivatable NO releasers bearing fluorescent reporting functionalities achieved in our and other laboratories, highlighting the rationale design and their potential therapeutic applications.