Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
In the same study, the authors also pointed out that NP-labeled
cells can result in light-induced damage when exposed to a tightly
focused laser beam. NP-induced photothermal heating of cells is well
characterized and has been proposed as an effective route to deliver
therapeutic treatments in cancer research.
1,70
In addition, NPs can
be used as a vehicle to deliver therapeutic molecules as payloads
in cellular endocytotic events as demonstrated in reference.
66
It is
also possible to design a SERS transducer that contains a built-in
redox reaction by carefully selecting the reporter molecules that
support such reactions. This allows one to monitor the pH value of
the nanoscale environment as demonstrated in reference.
71
All of
these added functionalities enable the NP-based SERS imaging as a
potentially useful monitoring, diagnostic, and therapeutic tool for
biomedical research community.
11.4
Summary and Outlook
Since been discovered in the late 1970s, studied intensely in the 80s,
and rejuvenated by the advances of the nanotechnology, theoretical
modeling tools and single molecule detection capabilities have
demonstrated in the last 15 years that SERS has reached the maturity
to embark on a program of development that goes beyond simple
academic curiosity and ventures into the real-world applications.
SERS has demonstrated enormous sensitivity as an active optical
transducer in local environment sensing. This local environment can
either be the intrinsic and complex environment of a living organism
or speciic reporter molecules with well-characterized Raman
signature as in the labeled detection scheme. Properly designed SERS
active nanostructures such as the NAEB outlined in this chapter have
sensitivities rivaling that of luorescent tag with superior stability
and are better suited for conjugating to the desired target molecules.
More importantly, the narrow Raman vibrational signature coupled
with the availability of a large number of reporter molecules renders
this type of probe highly desirable for the multiplexed detection.
In SERS-based cell surface receptor imaging, noble metal NPs
co-labeled with target-speciic antibody, Raman reporter molecule
and passivating ligands are used to label the desired cell surface
receptors and rely on the receptor-driven aggregation event to
generate a detectable SERS signal. In these studies, the metal NP
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