posted on 2021-03-08, 18:40authored byJennifer
M. Urban, Wesley Chiang, Jennetta W. Hammond, Nicole M. B. Cogan, Angela Litzburg, Rebeckah Burke, Harry A. Stern, Harris A. Gelbard, Bradley L. Nilsson, Todd D. Krauss
Colloidal
semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have long established
their versatility and utility for the visualization of biological
interactions. On the single-particle level, QDs have demonstrated
superior photophysical properties compared to organic dye molecules
or fluorescent proteins, but it remains an open question as to which
of these fundamental characteristics are most significant with respect
to the performance of QDs for imaging beyond the diffraction limit.
Here, we demonstrate significant enhancement in achievable localization
precision in QD-labeled neurons compared to neurons labeled with an
organic fluorophore. Additionally, we identify key photophysical parameters
of QDs responsible for this enhancement and compare these parameters
to reported values for commonly used fluorophores for super-resolution
imaging.