Abstract
In the past few decades, technology has made immeasurable strides to enable visualization, identification, and quantitation in biological systems. Many of these technological advancements are occurring on the nanometer scale, where multiple scientific disciplines are combining to create new materials with enhanced properties. The integration of inorganic synthetic methods with a size reduction to the nano-scale has lead to the creation of a new class of optical reporters, called quantum dots. These semiconductor quantum dot nanocrystals have emerged as an alternative to organic dyes and fluorescent proteins, and are brighter and more stable against photobleaching than standard fluorescent indicators. Quantum dots have tunable optical properties that have proved useful in a wide range of applications from multiplexed analysis such as DNA detection and cell sorting and tracking, to most recently demonstrating promise for in vivo imaging and diagnostics. This review provides an in-depth discussion of past, present, and future trends in quantum dot use with an emphasis on in vivo imaging and its related applications.
Highlights
Fluorescence techniques are commonplace in life science applications, but are constantly evolving as novel optical reporters and imaging instrumentation continues to be developed
Such applications require many of the most advantageous optical properties exhibited by quantum dots, and necessitate biocompatibility, low toxicity, proper attachment of biomolecules, and navigation of the cascade of events involved in the immune response
While this section will not detail work performed with quantum dots, in vivo applications involving nanoparticles is moving in a new direction, in large part, due to the successes associated with quantum dots
Summary
Fluorescence techniques are commonplace in life science applications, but are constantly evolving as novel optical reporters and imaging instrumentation continues to be developed. For simplicity and cost benefit, a preferable experimental protocol employing fluorescent reporters should be amenable to relatively inexpensive instrumentation, such as the need for a single excitation source Standard fluorescent labels, such as organic dyes, can be problematic, or even limiting, in multicolor experiments due to issues associated with signal intensity strength, relatively short lifetimes, narrow excitation ranges, and broad emission spectra. These problems exist due to the optical properties of organic fluorophores and the growing requirement for more sensitive, complex imaging experiments within the visible spectrum.
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