Photostable and photoswitching fluorescent dyes for super-resolution imaging

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy is a recently developed imaging tool for biological researches. Several methods have been developed for detection of fluorescence signals from molecules in a subdiffraction-limited area, breaking the diffraction limit of the conventional optical microscopies and allowing visualization of detailed macromolecular structures in cells. As objectives are exposed to intense laser in the optical systems, fluorophores for super-resolution microscopy must be tolerated even under severe light irradiation conditions. The fluorophores must also be photoactivatable and photoswitchable for single-molecule localization-based super-resolution microscopy, because the number of active fluorophores must be controlled by light irradiation. This has led to growing interest in these properties in the development of fluorophores. In this mini-review, we focus on the development of photostable and photoswitching fluorescent dyes for super-resolution microscopy. We introduce recent efforts, including improvement of fluorophore photostability and control of photoswitching behaviors of fluorophores based on photochemical and photophysical processes. Understanding and manipulation of chemical reactions in excited fluorophores can develop highly photostable and efficiently photoswitchable fluorophores that are suitable for super-resolution imaging applications.