Hong Bin, Kang Kyung A
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA.
Biosens Bioelectron. 2006 Jan 15;21(7):1333-8. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2005.04.007. Epub 2005 Jun 2.
Fluorophores have been used as effective signal mediators for detecting biomarkers in biosamples. The enhancement of the fluorescence can, therefore, improve the sensitivity of fluorophore-mediated biosensors. A nanogold particle (NGP), when placed at an appropriate distance from a fluorophore, can effectively enhance the fluorescence by transferring the free electrons of the fluorophore, normally used for self-quenching, to the strong surface plasmon polariton field (SPPF) of the NGP. We found that some organic solvents can also enhance the fluorescence significantly. To maximize the fluorescence enhancement, novel, biocompatible nanogold particle reagents (NGPRs) were developed by combining NGPs and biocompatible solvents and tested. The level of enhancement by NGPRs was found to be additively contributed by two enhancers. These NGPRs were able to increase the signal of a fiber-optic biosensor as much as 10 times and accurately quantify some of the important cardiac markers at a tens of picomolar level. These novel enhancers are expected to be effective for fluorophore-mediated bioimaging as well as biosensing.
荧光团已被用作检测生物样品中生物标志物的有效信号介质。因此，荧光增强可以提高荧光团介导的生物传感器的灵敏度。当纳米金颗粒（NGP）与荧光团保持适当距离时，它可以通过将通常用于自猝灭的荧光团自由电子转移到NGP的强表面等离子体激元场（SPPF）来有效增强荧光。我们发现一些有机溶剂也能显著增强荧光。为了使荧光增强最大化，通过将NGP与生物相容性溶剂结合开发并测试了新型生物相容性纳米金颗粒试剂（NGPR）。发现NGPR的增强水平是由两种增强剂累加贡献的。这些NGPR能够将光纤生物传感器的信号增强多达10倍，并能在数十皮摩尔水平准确量化一些重要的心脏标志物。这些新型增强剂有望在荧光团介导的生物成像以及生物传感中发挥作用。
