Quantum dot blueing and blinking enables fluorescence nanoscopy.
We demonstrate superresolution fluorescence imaging of cells using bioconjugated CdSe/ZnS quantum dot markers. Fluorescence blueing of quantum dot cores facilitates separation of blinking markers residing closer than the diffraction barrier. The high number of successively emitted photons enables ground state depletion microscopy followed by individual marker return with a resolving power of the size of a single dot (∼12 nm). Nanoscale imaging is feasible with a simple webcam.
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Optical Nanoscopy Division, Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Patrick
P
Hoyer
Thorsten
T
Staudt
Johann
J
Engelhardt
Stefan W
SW
Hell
D000818:Animals; D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D002460:Cell Line; D008870:Microtubules / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D045663:Quantum Dots; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D013269:Stochastic Processes; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D018036:Selenium Compounds; D013440:Sulfides; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C058667:cadmium selenide; C031238:zinc sulfide