Cellular heterogeneity is always present in any cell population. It is the fundamental to understand how single cells and cell ensembles behave under perturbation, which is essential for both basic research and clinical application. Various approaches have been developed to study cell‐to‐cell difference at the single‐cell level, among which electrochemiluminescence (ECL) single‐cell analysis has emerged in recent years. This Minireview focuses on the advances in ECL single cell analysis. After a brief introduction to single cell analysis and ECL, this overview mainly covers the ECL mechanisms and systems involved in ECL cytosensors, as well as the applications in ECL single cell analysis, which are classified into two main categories, namely intensity‐ and imaging‐based methods. Finally, the outlooks and challenges in this field are discussed.

中文翻译：

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电化学发光单细胞分析：基于强度和成像的方法。

细胞异质性总是存在于任何细胞群中。理解单个细胞和细胞团在扰动下的行为是基础，这对于基础研究和临床应用都是必不可少的。已经开发了多种方法来研究单细胞水平的细胞间差异，其中近年来出现了电化学发光（ECL）单细胞分析。这份Minireview重点关注ECL单细胞分析的进展。在简要介绍了单细胞分析和ECL之后，本概述主要涵盖了ECL细胞传感器所涉及的ECL机制和系统，以及ECL单细胞分析中的应用，它们分为两个主要类别，即强度和成像基于方法。最后，讨论了该领域的前景和挑战。