Revista de Nanomedicina y Nanotecnología

Abstracto

Multimodal Gold Nanoprobes for SERS Bioimaging

Vijay Raghavan, Hai Ming Fan, Peter Dockery, Antony Wheatley, Ivan Keoghx and Malini Olivo

Growing number of studies report on the improved sensitivity of various imaging modalities in detecting abnormalities within tumours. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) microscopy is a novel optical imaging technique which is advantageous in terms of greater multiplexing capability, minimal or no photobleaching of the Raman reporters, better spatial resolution and low signal-to-noise ratio within complex biological environment. For the enhancement of the Raman vibrational signal in SERS bioimaging, gold nanoparticles (GNP) are the most viable among metal nanoparticles because of comparable ease in controlling its size distribution and biocompatibility, among other parameters. GNP based SERS nanoprobes can be synthesised by tagging Raman reporter and conjugating with target specific biomolecules. Because of GNP’s wide-ranging optical properties and narrow and distinct signal from SERS, other labelling methodologies like fluorescence microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), etc. can also be implemented along with SERS bioimaging, by tagging fluorophores, magnetic nanoparticles, etc. This review focuses on various structures and shapes of GNP, fabricating GNP based nanoprobes and the multiplexing and multi-modality capability of GNP based SERS nanoprobes.