Mapping progress

Hutchinson, Ezzie

doi:10.1038/nrc1263

Research Highlight
Published: 01 January 2004

Nanotechnology

Mapping progress

Ezzie Hutchinson

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 4, page 8 (2004)Cite this article

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Quantum dots (QDs) are fluorescent crystals that are typically less than 50 nm in diameter. These have potential for many biological applications; however, their development for bioimaging has been hampered by technical limitations. Frangioni's and Bawendi's groups previously developed QDs that fluoresce in the near-infrared (NIR) region of the spectrum to overcome the problem of poor sensitivity and poor resolution of visible QDs or conventional organic fluorescent dyes in vivo. For the current experiments, the dots were ∼15.8 nm diameter — well within the range that is required for retention in the SLN. They were also coated with polydentate phosphine to make them water soluble.

The authors showed that NIR dots are stable even at high fluence rates, unlike conventional NIR fluorophores, which rapidly photobleach — in fact, NIR dots seem to photobrighten slightly. They are also stable in 100% serum at 37°C for more than 30 minutes, indicating that they will survive prolonged exposure to bodily fluids at core body temperature.

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