Monodisperse Au@Ag core-shell nanoprobes with ultrasensitive SERS-activity for rapid identification and Raman imaging of living cancer cells.

Abstract The rapid identification of living cancer cells is highly crucial for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment monitoring. However, it is a great challenge to develop an effective way for rapid identification and imaging of cancer cells in a living state. Moreover, synthesis of monodisperse nanoparticles (NPs) with high sensitive surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity is also a tough work. Herein, we creatively reported a convenient method to synthesize the novel NPs as the substrate of SERS sensors, which possessed a gold nanobipyramid core and silver nanorod shell. These gold nanobipyramid core and silver nanorod shell NPs (Au NBP@Ag NRs) were further modified with 4-mercaptobenzoicacid (4-MBA, Raman reporter molecule) and then conjugated with reduced bovine serum albumin (rBSA) and folic acid (FA) on their surfaces, to finally acquire Au NBP@Ag NR-MBA-rBSA-FA nanoprobes. In this system, With the enhancement factor (EF) of Au NBP@Ag NRs was about 4 × 107, it could significantly enhance Raman signal for Raman reporter molecules, and 4-MBA molecules performed high SERS signals based on their structures; the nanoprobes have favorable specificity and biocompatibility owing to the modification of rBSA which effectively avoided the nonspecific attachment of non-targeted cells. Moreover, the obtained SERS nanoprobes have excellent sensitivity for gastric cancer cells (MGC-803 cells) due to the conjugation of folic acid. Thus, the finally obtained Au NBP@Ag NR-MBA-rBSA-FA nanoprobes possess excellent detection efficiency for living MGC-803 cells. Therefore, our synthesized nanoprobes exhibit ultrasensitive SERS-activity, excellent specificity and superior cancer cells targeting ability, which could be applied for rapid identification and Raman imaging of living cancer cells via the SERS signal detection of the nanoprobes. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • A convenient method to synthesize Au NBP@Ag NRs was developed. • Au NBP@Ag NRs could significantly enhance signal of Raman reporter molecules. • Au NBP@Ag NR-MBA-rBSA-FA have favorable specificity and biocompatibility. • The synthesis strategy could be applied for detection of other cancer cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]