β-
Gal-
NONOate is a nitric oxide (NO) donor which releases NO following activation by β-
galactosidase.
1 β-
Gal-
NONOate is stable in aqueous solution at neutral and acidic pH for several hours, exhibits good water solubility, and is able to cross the cell membrane. Following enzymatic hydrolysis, β-
Gal-
NONOate decomposes with a half-
life of six minutes at pH 5.6.
1 β-
Gal-
NONOate is cytotoxic to a number of cancer cell-
lines and exhibits high bactericidal activity against
E. coli transformed with the β-
galactosidase gene.
1,2
