Recently we have developed methods for the surface functionalization of QDs. We synthesized specific immunofluorescent
probes by linking these QDs to streptavidin and IgGs, and conducted comprehensive investigations into the labeling efficiency of these probes at the subcellular level. Here we describe the specific
labeling of different types of target (cell surface receptors,
cytoskeleton components, and nuclear antigens) at different subcellular locations (surface, intracellular, and intranuclear) and
with different types of specimens (cultured live cells, fixed cells,
and tissue sections). Additionally, we detected two different targets
in the same cell simultaneously with different colors of QDs or
combinations of QDs and organic dyes. These results demonstrate
the practicality of QDs as an attractive class of fluorescence labels
for biological and biomedical cellular imaging.