Application advances in optical imaging of inorganic fluorescent nano-materials-quantum dots / 中华核医学与分子影像杂志

ABSTRACT

Optical imaging is one of the molecular imaging modalities,and it consists of three imaging methods (fluorescence,bioluminescence and diffusion imaging).For fluorescence imaging,quantum dots (QDs) are inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals with a diameter from 2 to 100 nm.Compared with organic fluorescent dye,QDs have several unique optical properties,such as wide and continuous excitation spectra,narrow and symmetrical emission spectrum,strong fluorescence intensity and high resistance to photobleaching.This article reviews the optical properties of QDs and their development in the field of molecular imaging from in vitro and in vivo applications,as well as the limitations and problems.