Drexel University, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
J Biomed Opt. 2010 Mar-Apr;15(2):020512. doi: 10.1117/1.3400660.
Serotonin is both a ubiquitous neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and an important immunomodulator involved in various immune responses. The ability to unambiguously detect serotonin is therefore imperative in biomedical research. However, detection of serotonin and related indoles using immunohistochemistry has been largely limited by their small molecular size and the resultant uncertainty in antibody specificity. Here we show that surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) can be used to detect and distinguish serotonin from its various closely related precursors and metabolites. Compared with traditional antibody-based methods, SERS is highly specific and capable of real-time detection. We also quantify the relative concentration of serotonin against a background of other indoles using SERS. We expect this optical detection method to directly benefit a variety of immune and nervous systems studies involving serotonin.
血清素既是中枢神经系统中无处不在的神经递质，也是参与各种免疫反应的重要免疫调节剂。因此，能够明确地检测血清素在生物医学研究中至关重要。然而，使用免疫组织化学检测血清素和相关吲哚类物质受到其小分子大小的限制，并且抗体特异性存在不确定性。在这里，我们展示了表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）可用于检测和区分血清素与其各种密切相关的前体和代谢物。与传统的基于抗体的方法相比，SERS 具有高度的特异性并且能够实时检测。我们还使用 SERS 定量了在其他吲哚类物质背景下血清素的相对浓度。我们期望这种光学检测方法将直接有益于涉及血清素的各种免疫系统和神经系统研究。
