Although transition metals constitute less than 0.1% of the total mass within a human body, they have a substantial impact on fundamental biological processes across all kingdoms of life. Indeed, these nutrients play crucial roles in the physiological functions of enzymes, with the redox properties of many of these metals being essential to their activity. At the same time, imbalances in transition metal pools can be detrimental to health. Modern analytical techniques are helping to illuminate the workings of metal homeostasis at a molecular and atomic level, their spatial localization in real time, and the implications of metal dysregulation in disease pathogenesis. Fluorescence microscopy has proven to be one of the most promising non-invasive methods for studying metal pools in biological samples. The accuracy and sensitivity of bioimaging experiments are predominantly determined by the fluorescent metal-responsive sensor, highlighting the importance of rational probe design for such measurements. This review covers activity- and binding-based fluorescent metal sensors that have been applied to cellular studies. We focus on the essential redox-active metals: iron, copper, manganese, cobalt, chromium, and nickel. We aim to encourage further targeted efforts in developing innovative approaches to understanding the biological chemistry of redox-active metals.

中文翻译：

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用于氧化还原活性生物金属的结合和活性传感的小分子荧光探针

尽管过渡金属仅占人体内总质量的不到 0.1%，但它们对所有生命领域的基本生物过程具有重大影响。事实上，这些营养物质在酶的生理功能中发挥着至关重要的作用，其中许多金属的氧化还原特性对其活性至关重要。与此同时，过渡金属池的不平衡可能有害健康。现代分析技术正在帮助阐明分子和原子水平上金属稳态的工作原理、它们的实时空间定位以及金属失调在疾病发病机制中的影响。荧光显微镜已被证明是研究生物样品中金属池最有前途的非侵入性方法之一。生物成像实验的准确性和灵敏度主要由荧光金属响应传感器决定，这凸显了合理的探针设计对于此类测量的重要性。本综述涵盖了已应用于细胞研究的基于活性和结合的荧光金属传感器。我们专注于重要的氧化还原活性金属：铁、铜、锰、钴、铬和镍。我们的目标是鼓励进一步有针对性地努力开发创新方法来了解氧化还原活性金属的生物化学。