Water-Soluble Quantum Dots for Multiphoton Fluorescence Imaging in Vivo

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1083780
• Publication Date: 2003-05-29T20:06:36Z
• Authors: Daniel R. Larson; Warren R. Zipfel; Rebecca M. Williams; Stephen W. Clark; Marcel P. Bruchez; Frank W. Wise; Watt W. Webb
• Keywords: Nanosecond; Cadmium selenide; Two-photon excitation microscopy; Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy; Zinc selenide

The use of semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots) as fluorescent labels for multiphoton microscopy enables multicolor imaging in demanding biological environments such living tissue. We characterized water-soluble cadmium selenide-zinc sulfide quantum dots live animals. These probes have two-photon action cross sections high 47,000 Goeppert-Mayer units, by far the largest any label used microscopy. visualized dynamically through skin mice, capillaries hundreds micrometers deep. found no evidence blinking (fluorescence intermittency) solution on nanosecond to millisecond time scales.