title: Optical readout of the intracellular environment using nanoparticle transducers.
abstract: There is rapid growth in the use of multi-functional nanoparticles as transducers to probe the intracellular environment. New designs of nanoparticles can provide quantitative information at sub-cellular resolution on parameters such as pH, temperature and concentration of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) or selected metal ions. This new work builds on the existing practice of using nanoparticles and fluorescent dyes to provide enhanced microscopic images of cells, but goes beyond it by adding new functionalities and analytical capabilities. In this review, we discuss the recent literature on the development of such nanoparticles for simultaneous biosensing and imaging. We explore and examine the different measurements that will be possible, and analyze the likely accuracy and resolution that could be achieved.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Nanoscale Technology, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: annette.dowd@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dowd
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering Program, Multidisciplinary Unit, Faculty of Science, Mahidol University, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand.
authors.forename: Dakrong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pissuwan
authors.affiliation: Institute for Nanoscale Technology, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cortie
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D053758:Nanoparticles; D061848:Optical Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D014159:Transducers
keywords: biosensor; intracellular environment; nanoparticle; sub-cellular transduction