Fluorescent nanoparticles as tools in ecology and physiology
Fluorescent nanoparticles as tools in ecology and physiology
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DOI：
10.1111/brv.12758
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发表时间：
2021-06-17
影响因子：
10
通讯作者：
Tedersoo，Leho
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Farkkila，Sanni M. A.;Kiers，E. Toby;Tedersoo，Leho
荧光纳米粒子（FNP）已广泛应用于化学和医学领域数十年，但其在生物学中的应用相对较新。过去对 FNP 的审查主要集中在化学、物理或医学用途，这使得外推到生物应用变得困难。在生物学中，FNP 主要用于生物传感和分子追踪。然而，对早期类型 FNP（例如含镉量子点（QD））毒性的担忧可能阻碍了其广泛采用。最近的发展，特别是不含镉的 FNP，已经缓解了毒性问题，促进了 FNP 在生物研究中解决生态、生理和分子水平过程的应用。从合成到应用的标准化方案以及跨学科方法对于在生物学家的工具包中建立 FNP 至关重要。在这里，我们介绍 FNP，总结其在生物应用中的用途，并讨论数据可靠性和生物相容性等技术问题。我们评估生物学研究是否可以从 FNP 中受益，并提出如何应用 FNP 来回答生物学问题。我们的结论是，FNP 在研究各种生物过程，特别是生理学和生态学中的跟踪、传感和成像方面具有巨大的潜力。
Fluorescent nanoparticles (FNPs) have been widely used in chemistry and medicine for decades, but their employment in biology is relatively recent. Past reviews on FNPs have focused on chemical, physical or medical uses, making the extrapolation to biological applications difficult. In biology, FNPs have largely been used for biosensing and molecular tracking. However, concerns over toxicity in early types of FNPs, such as cadmium‐containing quantum dots (QDs), may have prevented wide adoption. Recent developments, especially in non‐Cd‐containing FNPs, have alleviated toxicity problems, facilitating the use of FNPs for addressing ecological, physiological and molecule‐level processes in biological research. Standardised protocols from synthesis to application and interdisciplinary approaches are critical for establishing FNPs in the biologists’ tool kit. Here, we present an introduction to FNPs, summarise their use in biological applications, and discuss technical issues such as data reliability and biocompatibility. We assess whether biological research can benefit from FNPs and suggest ways in which FNPs can be applied to answer questions in biology. We conclude that FNPs have a great potential for studying various biological processes, especially tracking, sensing and imaging in physiology and ecology.