Fluorescent detection of zinc in biological systems: recent development on the design of chemosensors and biosensors

Zinc is an essential biological element for living organisms and fluorescent imaging has been proven to be the most suitable technique for its in vivo monitoring. From the late 1980s, many fluorescent probes have been designed and some have been used successfully in zinc neurochemistry. This paper will review the progress made in the past decade or so, focusing on sensor design strategy based on molecular structure and fluorescent mechanism. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.