Fluorescent Sensors for Measuring Metal Ions in Living Systems

Metal ion pools are more widespread and dynamic be systematically perturbed in disease states, and that metal ions are intimately connected to canonical signaling pathways, suggesting a rich connection between transition metals and cell physiology. The ability to perform simultaneous multianalyte imaging to elucidate interactions between different metal pools will be instrumental for dissecting the mechanism of crosstalk between different ions. Such measurements would require an expanded repertoire of probes of different colors, increasing rigor in metal specificity, a greater number of localized probes, and careful attention to ensure no perturbation of the cellular pools. An additional frontier is to expand the toolkit for imaging metal ions in whole organisms, in which the three-dimensional tissue architecture and multiple complex interacting systems is preserved, would enable us to generate a more comprehensive understanding of metal homeostasis at the organismal level.