Abstract
Abstract Metal ions are widely present in biological systems and participate in many critical biochemical processes such as material transportation, energy conversion, information transmission and metabolic regulation, making them indispensable substance in our body. They can cause health problems when deficiency or excess occurs. To understand various metabolic processes and facilitate diseases diagnosis, it is very important to measure the content and monitor the distribution of metal ions in individual cells, tissues and whole organisms. Among the various methods for metal ion detection, fluorescent sensors with organic dyes have attracted tremendous attention due to many advantages such as high fluorescence quantum yield, facile modification approaches and biocompatibility in addition to operation ease, high sensitivity, fast detection speed, and real-time detection. This review summarizes the recent progress on the detection and imaging of the metal ions in biological systems including Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe2+/Fe3+, Zn2+, and Cu2+ provides an opinion on remaining challenges to be addressed in this field.
Highlights
Metal ions play crucial structural or functional roles in all life
As the major metal ions in our body fluid, alkali metals ions, Na+ and K+ are responsible for maintenance of fluid and electrolyte balance, acid-base homeostasis, and maintenance of cell membrane potential allowing the generation of action potentials that are critical for neurotransmission, muscle contraction, and heart function [1]
Metal ions are critical for sustaining life, their concentration in organisms must be maintained within a proper range for optimal cellular function
Summary
Metal ions play crucial structural or functional roles in all life. They are required in essential biological processes such as osmotic regulation, catalysis, metabolism, and cell signaling. Ca2+ and Mg2+, play an important role in cell signaling including neurotransmission as well as their structural role and involvement in enzyme function [2,3] Transition metals such as Fe2+/Fe3+, Zn2+, Cu2+, generally serving as a component of proteins and enzymes or activator of enzymes, are considered to be the critical players in many vital biological processes including oxygen transport, energy production, neurotransmission, regulation of gene expression and synthesis of essential molecules [4,5]. Metal ions are critical for sustaining life, their concentration in organisms must be maintained within a proper range for optimal cellular function Deficiency of these essential elements can cause serious health problems [6,7,8]. Different types of fluorescent probes have been designed to adapt to various samples and systems, and can be used as powerful tools to study the function of metal ions in subcellular function, enzyme activity and dynamic change of membrane potential [30]
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