Sensing metabolites using donor-acceptor nanodistributions in fluorescence resonance energy transfer

Before fluorescence sensing techniques can be applied to media as delicate and complicated as human tissue, an adequate interpretation of the measured observables is required, i.e., an inverse problem needs to be solved. Recently we have solved the inverse problem relating to the kinetics of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), which clears the way for the determination of the donor-acceptor distribution function in FRET assays. In this letter this approach to monitoring metabolic processes is highlighted and the application to glucose sensing demonstrated. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.