Issue 17, 2016

Nanoparticles and intracellular applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman spectrocopy (SERS) offers ultrasensitive vibrational fingerprinting at the nanoscale. Its non-destructive nature affords an ideal tool for interrogation of the intracellular environment, detecting the localisation of biomolecules, delivery and monitoring of therapeutics and for characterisation of complex cellular processes at the molecular level. Innovations in nanotechnology have produced a wide selection of novel, purpose-built plasmonic nanostructures capable of high SERS enhancement for intracellular probing while microfluidic technologies are being utilised to reproducibly synthesise nanoparticle (NP) probes at large scale and in high throughput. Sophisticated multivariate analysis techniques unlock the wealth of previously unattainable biomolecular information contained within large and multidimensional SERS datasets. Thus, with suitable combination of experimental techniques and analytics, SERS boasts enormous potential for cell based assays and to expand our understanding of the intracellular environment. In this review we trace the pathway to utilisation of nanomaterials for intracellular SERS. Thus we review and assess nanoparticle synthesis methods, their toxicity and cell interactions before presenting significant developments in intracellular SERS methodologies and how identified challenges can be addressed.

Graphical abstract: Nanoparticles and intracellular applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
29 apr 2016
Accepted
18 jul 2016
First published
19 jul 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Analyst, 2016,141, 5037-5055

Nanoparticles and intracellular applications of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

J. Taylor, A. Huefner, L. Li, J. Wingfield and S. Mahajan, Analyst, 2016, 141, 5037 DOI: 10.1039/C6AN01003B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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