Fatty Acid Luciferin (FA-SS-luc) is a novel molecular imaging probe for a real-time noninvasive bioluminescent imaging of fatty uptake in cell culture and living animals (3). The probe design is based on a D-luciferin molecule conjugated to a long-chain fatty acid (palmitic, C16) via a cleavable disulfide bond that is stable in the extracellular environment but readily reduces intracellularly by glutathione after lipid uptake. The resulting free D-luciferin is oxidized by luciferase enzyme resulting in production of light proportional to the uptake of FA. Thus, this probe provides noninvasive, real-time, spatiotemporal and quantitative imaging of fatty acid uptake which opens a wide range of opportunities for establishing new drug screens and understanding fundamental biological processes involving fatty acid absorption both in vitro and in vivo. 

3.  The validation of this probe has been previously published in

ACS Chem. Biol. 2012, 7, 11, 1884–1891. 
 

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4.  This probe has been used in multiple studies of fatty acid uptake. Please see some of the representative publications below: 
 

Nature Medicine, 2016, 22, 421–426

https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.4057 
 

Nature Medicine, 2017, 23, 631–637

https://www.nature.com/articles/nm.4297

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