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Recently we have developed LSPR-mediated high resolution live-cell imaging techniques for adhesive cells on plasmonic metasurface composed of self-assembled gold or silver nanoparticles. Compared with other super-resolution microscopy techniques, our LSPR-mediated imaging is extremely simple but quite effective for monitoring the molecular dynamics at a nanointerface. The LSPR of the plasmonic metasurface provides high-contrast interfacial images due to the confined light within a region a few tens of nanometers from the particles and the enhancement of fluorescence. The improved lateral resolution reaches down to the theoretical limit even during cell movement due to the properties of the metasurface with an extremely high refractive index. In the presentation, we will present our latest imaging data concerning molecular dynamics in live cells, which were not visualized by other super-resolution imaging methods with low temporal resolution.

This paper proposes a simple, effective, non-scanning method for the visualization of a cell-attached nanointerface. The method uses localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) excited homogeneously on a two-dimensional (2D) self-assembled gold-nanoparticle sheet. The LSPR of the gold-nanoparticle sheet provides high-contrast interfacial images due to the confined light within a region a few tens of nanometers from the particles and the enhancement of fluorescence. Test experiments on rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells with fluorescence-labeled actin filaments revealed high axial and lateral resolution even under a regular epifluorescence microscope, which produced higher quality images than those captured under a total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope. This non-scanning-type, high-resolution imaging method will be an effective tool for monitoring interfacial phenomena that exhibit relatively rapid reaction kinetics in various cellular and molecular dynamics.