Raman spectroscopy measurement of levofloxacin lactate in blood using an optical fiber nano-probe.

Liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry were time-consuming and expensive as the main methods for the drug analysis at present, and the samples must be pretreated. The Raman spectroscopy measurement methods were fast and simple, so the Raman spectroscopy methods for the drug analysis were explored in this paper. An optical fiber nano-probe coated with gold nanoparticles was fabricated and used with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) to measure levofloxacin lactate. The resulting SERS spectra of levofloxacin lactate in mouse blood that was detected by the optical fiber nano-probe clearly showed the characteristic wave numbers of levofloxacin lactate, indicating that optical fiber nano-probes can be used with spectral techniques to analyze drugs in vitro or potentially even in vivo. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]