title: Flower-shaped gold nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization and their application as SERS-active tags inside living cells.
abstract: The detection of Raman signals inside living cells is a topic of great interest in the study of cell biology mechanisms and for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This work presents the synthesis and characterization of flower-shaped gold nanoparticles and demonstrates their applicability as SERS-active tags for cellular spectral detection. The particles were synthesized by a facile, rapid new route that uses ascorbic acid as a reducing agent of gold salt. Two triarylmethane dyes which are widely used as biological stains, namely malachite green oxalate and basic fuchsin, were used as Raman-active molecules and the polymer mPEG-SH as capping material. The as-prepared SERS-active nanoparticles were tested on a human retinal pigment epithelial cell line and found to present a low level of cytotoxicity and high chemical stability together with SERS sensitivity down to picomolar particle concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Nanobiophotonics Center, Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Nanobioscience, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. sanda.boca@phys.ubbcluj.ro
authors.forename: Sanda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boca
authors.forename: Dumitrita
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rugina
authors.forename: Adela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pintea
authors.forename: Lucian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Barbu-Tudoran
authors.forename: Simion
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Astilean
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002470:Cell Survival; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012394:Rosaniline Dyes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012996:Solutions; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D012394:Rosaniline Dyes; D012996:Solutions; C005095:malachite green; D006046:Gold