BioPhysics Group, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Torrington Place, London, WC1E 7JE, UK.
Analyst. 2011 Mar 7;136(5):878-90. doi: 10.1039/c0an00830c. Epub 2011 Jan 27.
Electrosprays or electrospraying is a process by which an aerosol is generated between two charged electrodes. This aerosol generation methodology has been known for well over a century, and has undergone exploration in aerosol and materials sciences, to many other areas of research and development. In one such exploration, electrosprays were partnered with mass spectrometry for the accurate characterisation of molecules. This technology now widely referred to as electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI MS) significantly contributes to molecular analysis and cancer biology to name a few. In fact these findings were recognised by the Chemistry Nobel Committee in 2002, and have catapulted electrosprays to many areas of research and development. In this review, the author wishes to introduce and discuss another such recent discovery, where electrosprays have been investigated for directly handling living cells and whole organisms. Over the past few years these electrosprays now referred to as "bio-electrosprays" have undergone rigorous developmental studies both in terms of understanding all the associate physical, chemical and biological sciences for completely assessing their effects, if any on the direct handling of living biological materials. Therefore, the review will bring together all the work that has contributed to fully understanding that bio-electrosprays are an inert technology for directly handling living biological materials, while elucidating some unique features they possess over competing technologies. Hence, demonstrating this approach as a flexible methodology for a wide range of applications spanning bio-analytics, diagnostics to the possible creation of synthetic tissues, for repairing and replacing damaged/ageing tissues, to the targeted and controlled delivery of personalised medicine through experimental and/or medical cells and/or genes. Therefore, elucidating the far reaching ramifications bio-electrosprays have to our health sciences and well-being.
电喷雾或电喷雾是一种在两个带电电极之间产生气溶胶的过程。这种气溶胶产生方法已经有一个多世纪的历史，并且已经在气溶胶和材料科学以及许多其他研究和开发领域进行了探索。在这样的探索之一中，电喷雾与质谱法结合使用，以准确地描述分子。这项技术现在通常被称为电喷雾电离质谱（ESI-MS），它为分子分析和癌症生物学等领域做出了重要贡献。事实上，这些发现得到了 2002 年诺贝尔化学委员会的认可，并将电喷雾技术推向了许多研究和开发领域。在这篇综述中，作者希望介绍和讨论另一个最近的发现，即电喷雾技术已被用于直接处理活细胞和整个生物体。在过去的几年里，这些电喷雾现在被称为“生物电喷雾”，已经进行了严格的发展研究，涉及到理解所有相关的物理、化学和生物学科学，以完全评估它们对直接处理活的生物材料的影响。因此，本综述将汇集所有有助于充分理解生物电喷雾是一种用于直接处理活的生物材料的惰性技术的工作，同时阐明它们在处理竞争技术方面所具有的一些独特功能。因此，证明这种方法是一种广泛应用的灵活方法，涵盖了从生物分析到诊断，再到合成组织的可能创建，用于修复和替换受损/衰老的组织，以及通过实验和/或医学细胞和/或基因靶向和控制个性化药物的递送来治疗疾病。因此，阐明生物电喷雾对我们的健康科学和福祉的深远影响。
