Use of luminiscent Quantum Dots to image and initiate biological functions

ELIZABETH A. JARES-ERIJMAN; AVISHAY PELAH; MARÍA JULIA ROBERTI; VALERIA SIGOT; LIA PIETRASANTA; GUILLERMO MENENDEZ ; MARIA H. ETCHEHON ; THOMAS M. JOVIN

Inorganic Nanoprobes for Biological Sensing and Imaging

Artech House

Año: 2008; p. 101 - 113

Quantum dots (QDs) possess unique properties (brightness, photostability, narrowbandemission and broadband absorption), and excellent bio(chemical) compatibility for imagingstructures and functions of living cells. The reader is referred to chapter 1 for a descriptionof the synthesis, photophysical properties and biofunctionalization strategies of quantumdots, and to chapter 3 for an account of peptide-functionalized quantum dots for livediagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications. QDs conjugated with ligands, are able torecognize and track multiple targets and visualize dynamic processes. Such QDs can bedirected to precise cellular targets [1-9], detecting biomolecules with a sensitivityextending to the single molecule level. Thus, one can study the essential processesunderlying the functions and regulation of living cells with probes providing "partialmolecular derivatives", i.e. views of individual processes embedded in the totality of thecellular machinery. Without such information, a “dissection” of complex networks isimpossible.