Recent Advances in Fluorescent Nanoparticles for Stimulated Emission Depletion Imaging
Liqing Qi,
Songlin Liu,
Jiantao Ping,
Xingxing Yao,
Long Chen,
Dawei Yang,
Yijun Liu,
Chenjing Wang,
Yating Xiao,
Lubin Qi,
Yifei Jiang,
Xiaohong Fang
Affiliations
Liqing Qi
Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Songlin Liu
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Jiantao Ping
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Xingxing Yao
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Long Chen
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Dawei Yang
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Yijun Liu
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Chenjing Wang
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Yating Xiao
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Lubin Qi
The Key Laboratory of Zhejiang Province for Aptamers and Theranostics, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences Hangzhou, Hangzhou 310022, China
Yifei Jiang
Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Xiaohong Fang
Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy, as a popular super-resolution imaging technique, has been widely used in bio-structure analysis and resolving the dynamics of biological processes beyond the diffraction limit. The performance of STED critically depends on the optical properties of the fluorescent probes. Ideally, the probe should process high brightness and good photostability, and exhibit a sensitive response to the depletion beam. Organic dyes and fluorescent proteins, as the most widely used STED probes, suffer from low brightness and exhibit rapid photobleaching under a high excitation power. Recently, luminescent nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as promising fluorescent probes in biological imaging due to their high brightness and good photostability. STED imaging using various kinds of NPs, including quantum dots, polymer dots, carbon dots, aggregation-induced emission dots, etc., has been demonstrated. This review will comprehensively review recent advances in fluorescent NP-based STED probes, discuss their advantages and pitfalls, and outline the directions for future development.