Highly sensitive time resolved singlet oxygen luminescence detection using LEDs as the excitation source

摘要

For the first time singlet oxygen luminescence kinetics in living cells were detected at high precision using LED light for excitation. As LED technology evolves, the light intensity emitted by standard LEDs allows photosensitized singlet oxygen luminescence detection in solution and cell suspensions. We present measurements superior to those of most actual laser powered setups regarding precision of singlet oxygen kinetics in solutions and cell suspensions. Data presented here show that LED based setups allow the determination of the photosensitizer triplet and singlet oxygen decay times in vitro with an accuracy of 0.1 μs. This enables monitoring of the photosensitizer efficiency and interaction with the cellular components using illumination doses small enough not to cause cell death.