Physical chemistry in a single live cell: confocal microscopy. Issue 20 (10th May 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Amin, Md. Asif; Nandi, Somen; Mondal, Prasenjit; Mahata, Tanushree; Ghosh, Surajit; Bhattacharyya, Kankan
• Is Part Of: Physical chemistry chemical physics. Volume 19:Issue 20(2017)
• Page Start: 12620
• Page End: 12627
• Publication Date: 2017-05-10
• Subjects: Chemistry, Physical and theoretical -- Periodicals; 541.3
• DOI: 10.1039/c7cp02228j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1463-9076

Abstract

Abstract : A confocal microscope can be used to differentiate between cancer and non-cancer cells, and to enrich our knowledge of 3D tumor spheroids and drug delivery. Abstract : A live cell is a complex, yet extremely important container. Understanding the dynamics in a selected intracellular component is a challenging task. We have recently made significant progress in this direction using a confocal microscope as a tool. The smallest size of the focused spot in a confocal microscope is ∼0.2 μm (200 nm). This is nearly one hundred times smaller than the size of a live cell. Thus, one can selectively study different intracellular components/organelles in a live cell. In this paper, we discuss how one can image different intracellular components/organelles, record fluorescence spectra and decay at different locations, ascertain local polarity and viscosity, and monitor the dynamics of solvation, proton transfer, red-ox and other phenomena at specified locations/organelles inside a cell. We will highlight how this knowledge enriched us in differentiating between cancer and non-cancer cells, 3D tumor spheroids and towards drug delivery.