NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC), 3112 Etcheverry Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States.
Nano Lett. 2011 Aug 10;11(8):3431-4. doi: 10.1021/nl2018838. Epub 2011 Jul 27.
Local extracellular signaling is central for cellular interactions and organizations. We report a novel sensing technique to interrogate extracellular signaling at the subcellular level. We developed an in situ immunoassay based on giant optical enhancement of a tunable nano-plasmonic-resonator array fabricated by nanoimprint lithography. Our nanoplasmonic device significantly increases the signal-to-noise ratio to enable the first time submicrometer resolution quantitative mapping of endogenous cytokine secretion. Our study shows a markedly high local interleukin-2 (IL-2) concentration within the immediate vicinity of the cell which finally validates a decades-old hypothesis on autocrine physiological concentration and spatial range. This general sensing technique can be applied for a broad range of cellular communication studies to improve our understanding of subcellular signaling and function.
局部细胞外信号对于细胞相互作用和组织至关重要。我们报告了一种新的传感技术,可以在亚细胞水平上检测细胞外信号。我们开发了一种基于可调谐纳米等离子体共振器阵列的原位免疫分析,该阵列由纳米压印光刻技术制造。我们的纳米等离子体器件大大提高了信噪比,从而首次实现了亚微米分辨率的内源性细胞因子分泌的定量映射。我们的研究表明,细胞附近存在明显较高的局部白细胞介素-2(IL-2)浓度,最终验证了关于自分泌生理浓度和空间范围的数十年假说。这种通用传感技术可应用于广泛的细胞通讯研究,以提高我们对亚细胞信号和功能的理解。