Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging

The detection of tumor markers in body fluids is crucial for the screening, diagnosis, and prognosis analysis of cancer. Hence, the sensitivity of tumor biomarker screening is highly demanded in detection. Currently, several detection techniques are available, such as a fluorescence analysis, surfac...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chaoshan Zhao, Shunbo Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-05-01
Series:Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/104/1/2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850259764491059200
author Chaoshan Zhao
Shunbo Li
author_facet Chaoshan Zhao
Shunbo Li
author_sort Chaoshan Zhao
collection DOAJ
description The detection of tumor markers in body fluids is crucial for the screening, diagnosis, and prognosis analysis of cancer. Hence, the sensitivity of tumor biomarker screening is highly demanded in detection. Currently, several detection techniques are available, such as a fluorescence analysis, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, electrochemical luminescence, and an electrochemical analysis. However, these methods have certain limitations, such as low sensitivity, poor stability, complex processes, and long reaction time. In recent years, the imaging technique combined with precious metal and dark-field microscopy has gained popularity in the field of highly sensitive biochemical detection due to its high spatiotemporal resolution and independence of signal reporter molecules. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) are anisotropic nanomaterials that show two types of plasmon resonance—longitudinal plasmon resonance and transverse plasmon resonance—in which the longitudinal LSPR plays a dominant role in the detection, while the transverse LSPR mode is always neglected. Herein, polarized light, which is perpendicular to the AuNRs, is designed to stimulate the transverse plasma resonance of the AuNRs to detect biomarkers in a microfluidic chip. In this work, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF<sub>165</sub>) is used as the testing biomarker to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. With the presence of VEGF<sub>165</sub> in the sample solution, AuNRs will capture the gold nanoparticles due to the antibody–antigen–antibody switched structure, inducing the change in the polarized plasma resonance property. This method achieves a detection limit of 10 pg/mL for VEGF<sub>165</sub>, which is lower than most of the reported methods. The results show that the method based on the combination of a microfluidic chip and dark-field microscopic image has excellent sensitivity and has significant potential in an early cancer diagnosis and prognosis analysis.
format Article
id doaj-art-4bf93c3edb494638b9e1ecdd5c4bc27d
institution OA Journals
issn 2504-3900
language English
publishDate 2024-05-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Proceedings
spelling doaj-art-4bf93c3edb494638b9e1ecdd5c4bc27d2025-08-20T01:55:48ZengMDPI AGProceedings2504-39002024-05-011041210.3390/proceedings2024104002Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field ImagingChaoshan Zhao0Shunbo Li1Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, ChinaKey Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Systems, Ministry of Education, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, ChinaThe detection of tumor markers in body fluids is crucial for the screening, diagnosis, and prognosis analysis of cancer. Hence, the sensitivity of tumor biomarker screening is highly demanded in detection. Currently, several detection techniques are available, such as a fluorescence analysis, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, electrochemical luminescence, and an electrochemical analysis. However, these methods have certain limitations, such as low sensitivity, poor stability, complex processes, and long reaction time. In recent years, the imaging technique combined with precious metal and dark-field microscopy has gained popularity in the field of highly sensitive biochemical detection due to its high spatiotemporal resolution and independence of signal reporter molecules. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) are anisotropic nanomaterials that show two types of plasmon resonance—longitudinal plasmon resonance and transverse plasmon resonance—in which the longitudinal LSPR plays a dominant role in the detection, while the transverse LSPR mode is always neglected. Herein, polarized light, which is perpendicular to the AuNRs, is designed to stimulate the transverse plasma resonance of the AuNRs to detect biomarkers in a microfluidic chip. In this work, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF<sub>165</sub>) is used as the testing biomarker to demonstrate the feasibility of this method. With the presence of VEGF<sub>165</sub> in the sample solution, AuNRs will capture the gold nanoparticles due to the antibody–antigen–antibody switched structure, inducing the change in the polarized plasma resonance property. This method achieves a detection limit of 10 pg/mL for VEGF<sub>165</sub>, which is lower than most of the reported methods. The results show that the method based on the combination of a microfluidic chip and dark-field microscopic image has excellent sensitivity and has significant potential in an early cancer diagnosis and prognosis analysis.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/104/1/2biomarker detectiongold nanorodesdark field imagingmicrofluidic chip
spellingShingle Chaoshan Zhao
Shunbo Li
Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
Proceedings
biomarker detection
gold nanorodes
dark field imaging
microfluidic chip
title Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
title_full Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
title_fullStr Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
title_full_unstemmed Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
title_short Ultrasensitive Detection of Biomarkers Based on Anisotropic Gold Nanorods and Dark-Field Imaging
title_sort ultrasensitive detection of biomarkers based on anisotropic gold nanorods and dark field imaging
topic biomarker detection
gold nanorodes
dark field imaging
microfluidic chip
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/104/1/2
work_keys_str_mv AT chaoshanzhao ultrasensitivedetectionofbiomarkersbasedonanisotropicgoldnanorodsanddarkfieldimaging
AT shunboli ultrasensitivedetectionofbiomarkersbasedonanisotropicgoldnanorodsanddarkfieldimaging