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Biological applications of scanning electrochemical microscopy: chemical imaging of single living cells and beyond

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Abstract

Recent applications of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to studies of single biological cells are reviewed. This scanning probe microscopic technique allows the imaging of an individual cell on the basis of not only its surface topography but also such cellular activities as photosynthesis, respiration, electron transfer, single vesicular exocytosis and membrane transport. The operational principles of SECM are also introduced in the context of these biological applications. Recent progress in techniques for high-resolution SECM imaging are also reviewed. Future directions, such as single-channel detection by SECM, high-resolution imaging with nanometer-sized probes, and combined SECM techniques for multidimensional imaging are also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the National Science Foundation (DBI-0242561) for financial support. This work was also supported by the Research Corporation and the University of Pittsburgh. We also thank Prof. A.J. Bard, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Prof. J.E. Baur, Department of Chemistry, Illinois State University, Prof. M.V. Mirkin, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Queens Colleges–CUNY, Prof. W.G. Schuhmann, Analytical Chemistry, Elektroanalytik & Sensorik, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, and Prof. P.R. Unwin, Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick, for their help in the preparation of the figures.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Pittsburgh, 219 Parkman Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Shigeru Amemiya, Jidong Guo, Hui Xiong & Darrick A. Gross

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  1. Shigeru Amemiya
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Correspondence to Shigeru Amemiya.

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Amemiya, S., Guo, J., Xiong, H. et al. Biological applications of scanning electrochemical microscopy: chemical imaging of single living cells and beyond. Anal Bioanal Chem 386, 458–471 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-006-0510-6

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