Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Methods. 2012 Feb;56(2):310-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2011.08.017. Epub 2011 Sep 1.
Noble metal nanoparticles hold great potential as optical contrast agents due to a unique feature, known as the plasmon resonance, which produces enhanced scattering and absorption at specific frequencies. The plasmon resonance also provides a spectral tunability that is not often found in organic fluorophores or other labeling methods. The ability to functionalize these nanoparticles with antibodies has led to their development as contrast agents for molecular optical imaging. In this review article, we present methods for optimizing the spectral agility of these labels. We discuss synthesis of gold nanorods, a plasmonic nanoparticle in which the plasmonic resonance can be tuned during synthesis to provide imaging within the spectral window commonly utilized in biomedical applications. We describe recent advances in our group to functionalize gold and silver nanoparticles using distinct antibodies, including EGFR, HER-2 and IGF-1, selected for their relevance to tumor imaging. Finally, we present characterization of these nanoparticle labels to verify their spectral properties and molecular specificity.
贵金属纳米粒子作为光学对比剂具有很大的潜力，因为它们具有独特的特性，即等离子体共振，这使得它们在特定频率下产生增强的散射和吸收。等离子体共振还提供了一种光谱可调性，这在有机荧光染料或其他标记方法中并不常见。通过将这些纳米粒子与抗体功能化，可以将其开发为分子光学成像的对比剂。在这篇综述文章中，我们提出了优化这些标签光谱灵活性的方法。我们讨论了金纳米棒的合成，这是一种等离子体纳米粒子，其等离子体共振可以在合成过程中进行调整，以便在生物医学应用中常用的光谱窗口内进行成像。我们描述了我们小组最近在使用不同的抗体对金和银纳米粒子进行功能化方面的进展，包括 EGFR、HER-2 和 IGF-1，这些抗体的选择与其在肿瘤成像中的相关性有关。最后，我们对这些纳米粒子标签进行了表征，以验证它们的光谱特性和分子特异性。
