Ma Cheng, Gou Xiaodan, Xing Zejing, Wang Min-Xuan, Zhu Wenlei, Xu Qin, Jiang Dechen, Zhu Jun-Jie
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225002, P. R. China.
State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China.
Research (Wash D C). 2023 Oct 18;6:0257. doi: 10.34133/research.0257. eCollection 2023.
Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has established itself as an excellent transduction technique in biosensing and light-emitting device, while conventional ECL mechanism depending on spontaneous emission of luminophores lacks reversibility and tunable emission characters, limiting the universality of ECL technique in the fields of fundamental research and clinical applications. Here, we report the first observation of stimulated emission route in ECL and thus establish a reversible tuning ECL microscopy for single-cell imaging. This microscopy uses a focused red-shifted beam to transfer spontaneous ECL into stimulated ECL, which enables selective and reversible tuning of ECL emission from homogeneous solution, single particles, and single cells. After excluding other possible competitive routes, the stimulated ECL emission route is confirmed by a dual-objective system in which the suppressed spontaneous ECL is accompanied by the enhanced stimulated ECL. By incorporating a commercial donut-shaped beam, the sharpness of single-cell matrix adhesion is improved 2 to 3 times compared with the counterpart in confocal ECL mode. The successful establishment of this stimulated emission ECL will greatly advance the development of light-emitting device and super-resolution ECL microscopy.
电化学发光（ECL）已成为生物传感和发光器件中一种出色的传感技术，然而，依赖发光体自发发射的传统ECL机制缺乏可逆性和可调控的发射特性，限制了ECL技术在基础研究和临床应用领域的通用性。在此，我们首次观察到ECL中的受激发射途径，从而建立了用于单细胞成像的可逆调谐ECL显微镜。该显微镜使用聚焦的红移光束将自发ECL转换为受激发射ECL，这使得能够从均匀溶液、单个颗粒和单细胞中对ECL发射进行选择性和可逆调谐。在排除其他可能的竞争途径后，通过双物镜系统确认了受激发射ECL发射途径，在该系统中，受抑制的自发ECL伴随着增强的受激发射ECL。通过结合商用环形光束，与共聚焦ECL模式相比，单细胞基质粘附的清晰度提高了2至3倍。这种受激发射ECL的成功建立将极大地推动发光器件和超分辨率ECL显微镜的发展。
