Optochemical nanosensor PEBBLEs: photonic explorers for bioanalysis with biologically localized embedding

Optical Chemical Sensors:Design and Applications

“…For example, the ratio of two fluorescent peaks is used instead of the absolute intensity of one peak. The sensors therefore typically contain a reference dye; the advantage of this approach is that factors such as excitation source fluctuations and sensor concentration will not affect the ratio between the fluorescence intensities of the indicator and the reference dye Buck et al, 2004;Cywinski et al, 2009;Doussineau et al, 2009;Frigoli et al, 2009;Sun et al, 2006).…”

“…Most of the NSs reported so far have used fluorophores as the sensitive and selective indicators. For making quantitative measurements in the intracellular environment, the so-called PEBBLE (Probes encapsulated by biologically localized embedding) NSs have been designed as they are small enough to be inserted into living cells with a minimum of physical perturbation (Buck et al, 2004). PEBBLEs have many advantages over widely used fluorescence-dye-based methods, such as: a) the increased number of analytes that can be measured because NSs are not limited to using a single fluorophore and can utilize cooperative interactions between ionophores, enzymes, reporter dyes, etc.…”

Applying Nanotechnology to Human Health: Revolution in Biomedical Sciences

“…Photonic explorers for bioanalysis with biologically localised embeddings (PEBBLEs) are a final example. These sensors are a few hundreds of nanometers in size and are composed of an inert capsule, made of polymers, for example, containing an indicator colouring agent that emits light as soon as a substance being analysed diffuses through the capsule to the inside and binds with the colouring agent [44]. PEBBLEs were developed for measuring concentrations of small ions and molecules-such as ions of hydrogen, calcium, magnesium and zinc, or glucose-in living cells.…”

Design of Fluorescent Materials for Chemical Sensing

“…Different systems can be created by combining multiple dyes and ionophores inside the polymeric matrix. 259 For example, Kopelman and co-workers have reported a ratiometric sensor for intracellular oxygen which was made by the inclusion of a ruthenium complex (Ru(II) tris(4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline) chloride) and Oregon Green in a polymer nanosphere. 260 The fluorescence emission of the ruthenium complex is quenched strongly in the presence of oxygen while the fluorescence of the Oregon Green is not affected, thus allowing ratiometric intensity measurements of the oxygen concentration (Fig.…”