Digitizing Gold Nanoparticle-Based Colorimetric Assay by Imaging and Counting Single Nanoparticles

Plasmonic Imaging of Multivalent NTD-Nucleic Acid Interactions for Broad-Spectrum Antiviral Drug Analysis

The discovery and identification of broad-spectrum antiviral drugs are of great significance for blocking the spread of pathogenic viruses and corresponding variants of concern. Herein, we proposed a plasmonic imaging-based strategy for assessing the efficacy of potential broad-spectrum antiviral drugs targeting the N-terminal domain of a nucleocapsid protein (NTD) and nucleic acid (NA) interactions. With NTD and NA conjugated gold nanoparticles as core and satellite nanoprobes, respectively, we found that the multivalent binding interactions could drive the formation of core-satellite nanostructures with enhanced scattering brightness due to the plasmonic coupling effect. The core-satellite assembly can be suppressed in the presence of antiviral drugs targeting the NTD-NA interactions, allowing the drug efficacy analysis by detecting the dose-dependent changes in the scattering brightness by plasmonic imaging. By quantifying the changes in the scattering brightness of plasmonic nanoprobes, we uncovered that the constructed multivalent weak interactions displayed a 500-fold enhancement in affinity as compared with the monovalent NTD-NA interactions. We demonstrated the plasmonic imaging-based strategy for evaluating the efficacy of a potential broad-spectrum drug, PJ34, that can target the NTD-NA interactions, with the IC50 as 24.35 and 14.64 μM for SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, respectively. Moreover, we discovered that ceftazidime holds the potential as a candidate drug to inhibit the NTD-NA interactions with an IC50 of 22.08 μM from molecular docking and plasmonic imaging-based drug analysis. Finally, we validated that the potential antiviral drug, 5-benzyloxygramine, which can induce the abnormal dimerization of nucleocapsid proteins, is effective for SARS-CoV-2, but not effective against SARS-CoV. All these demonstrations indicated that the plasmonic imaging-based strategy is robust and can be used as a powerful strategy for the discovery and identification of broad-spectrum drugs targeting the evolutionarily conserved viral proteins.

Single-Particle Counting Based on Digital Plasmonic Nanobubble Detection for Rapid and Ultrasensitive Diagnostics

Rapid and sensitive diagnostics of infectious diseases is an urgent and unmet need as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we report a novel strategy, based on DIgitAl plasMONic nanobubble Detection (DIAMOND), to address these gaps. Plasmonic nanobubbles are transient vapor bubbles generated by laser heating of plasmonic nanoparticles and allow single-particle detection. Using gold nanoparticles labels and an optofluidic setup, we demonstrate that DIAMOND achieves a compartment-free digital counting and works on homogeneous assays without separation and amplification steps. When applied to the respiratory syncytial virus diagnostics, DIAMOND is 150 times more sensitive than commercial lateral flow assays and completes measurements within 2 minutes. Our method opens new possibilities to develop single-particle digital detection methods and facilitate rapid and ultrasensitive diagnostics.

One Sentence Summary

Single-particle digital plasmonic nanobubble detection allows rapid and ultrasensitive detection of viruses in a one-step homogeneous assay.

Highly Sensitive Gold Nanoparticles-DNA Nanosensor for γ-Radiation Detection

It is very important to control the ionizing radiation dose in radiation therapy, which depends on the accurate and rapid measurement of radiation. Herein, a novel and highly sensitive nanosensor for γ-radiation detection is constructed using single-stranded DNA sequences as radiation-sensitive material and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as a signal reporter. Well-dispersed AuNPs gradually aggregated at high salt concentration when the sensor was irradiated, and this change was quantified by the visible spectra and surface plasmon resonance spectra. The radiation nanosensor has excellent linearity in the dose range of 0-100 Gy under optimal conditions. This method is simple and fast, which provides a new path for the γ-radiation dosimeter and has potential applications in the assessment of radiation-induced biological effects.

Single-Particle Mobility Analysis Enables Ratiometric Detection of Cancer Markers under Darkfield Tracking Microscopy

Here, we introduced a single-particle mobility analysis-based ratiometric strategy for quantitative detection of disease-related biomarkers using antibody-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as probes under darkfield tracking microscopy (DFTM). On the basis of the capability of discriminating nanoparticles with different hydrodynamic sizes and detecting the changes in hydrodynamic effect, single-particle mobility analysis enables us to determine the amount of aggregated and monodispersed nanoprobes for the sandwich-like immunoassay strategy, making it possible to quantify the biotargets by analyzing the relative changes in the aggregate-to-monomer ratio of nanoprobes. By using capture antibody and detection antibody conjugated AuNPs as nanoprobes, we demonstrated ratiometric detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) over a linear dynamic range from 50 to 750 pM, which is acceptable for clinical diagnostic analysis of CEA in tumor patients. This ratiometric detection technique exhibited excellent anti-interference ability in the presence of nonspecific proteins or complicated protein mixtures. It can be anticipated that this robust technique is promising for the accurate detection of disease biomarkers and other biomolecules for biochemical and diagnostic applications.

Determining the Subnanometer Thickness of the Water-Depletion Layer at the Interface between Water and the Hydrophobic Substrate

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is one of the most popular and powerful techniques for label-free detecting and quantitatively analyzing the interfacial refractive index (RI). So far, most of the SPR measurements are mainly applied to detect the relative change of RI upon biological and chemical events occurring at the interface, while the determinations on the absolute value of RI remains challenging. However, the absolute value of RI has become increasingly urgent in some cases, such as the existence and physical properties of the water depletion layer (WDL). WDL refers to a subnanometer-thick layer with reduced density between water and the hydrophobic substrate. The detailed explanations of how water meets hydrophobic surface have been studied by several kinds of techniques for decades but it remains under debate. In this work, we successfully established a method to measure the absolute RI at a gold-liquid interface by surface plasmon resonance microscopy (SPRM) and 2D Fourier transformation image processing and further applied this method to study the existence and physical nature of WDL. It was found that a 0.6 nm thick WDL existed at the interface of water and the hydrophobic substrate, leading to a reduced refractive index of 1.3295 ± 0.0006 compared with the standard value of 1.3325. Our results further indicated that the WDL consisted of a uniform layer rather than numerous isolated surface nanobubbles that distributed at the interface with high density.

Gold nanomaterials as key suppliers in biological and chemical sensing, catalysis, and medicine

BACKGROUND

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with unique physicochemical properties have received a great deal of interest in the field of biological, chemical and biomedical implementations. Despite the widespread use of AuNPs in chemical and biological sensing, catalysis, imaging and diagnosis, and more recently in therapy, no comprehensive summary has been provided to explain how AuNPs could aid in developing improved sensing and catalysts systems as well as medical settings.

SCOPE OF REVIEW

The chemistry of Au-based nanosystems was followed by reviewing different applications of Au nanomaterials in biological and chemical sensing, catalysis, imaging and diagnosis by a number of approaches, and finally synergistic combination therapy of different cancers. Afterwards, the clinical impacts of AuNPs, future application of AuNPs, and opportunities and challenges of AuNPs application were also discussed.

MAJOR CONCLUSIONS

AuNPs show exclusive colloidal stability and are considered as ideal candidates for colorimetric detection, catalysis, imaging, and photothermal transducers, because their physicochemical properties can be tuned by adjusting their structural dimensions achieved by the different manufacturing methods.

GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE

This review provides some details about using AuNPs in sensing and catalysis applications as well as promising theranostic nanoplatforms for cancer imaging and diagnosis, and sensitive, non-invasive, and synergistic methods for cancer treatment in an almost comprehensive manner.

Intracellular dark-field imaging of ATP and photothermal therapy using a colorimetric assay based on gold nanoparticle aggregation via tetrazine/trans-cyclooctene cycloaddition

In this study, we developed a colorimetric ATP assay based on the ATP-induced aggregation of Au nanoparticles (AuNPs). This aggregation modified the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the AuNPs, which was used to detect and localize ATP in cells via dark-field imaging. The AuNP aggregation process involved the reaction of two types of functionalized AuNPs with each other: tetrazine-modified AuNPs (Au₃-N₄) and asymmetrically functionalized trans-cyclooctene-modified AuNPs (Au₁-(E)-cyclooctene). This cycloaddition reaction occurs without the need for a catalyst such as the Cu ions that are used in the "click" reactions often employed in assays of this type. Initially, we asymmetrically functionalized both types of AuNPs and let them dimerize, which permitted us to explore the resulting wavelength shift in the LSPR of the AuNPs. Then, to facilitate the specific recognition of ATP, a designed DNA (DNA1) containing an ATP aptamer sequence was attached to carboxyl polystyrene microbeads (MBs). After attaching a different DNA (DNA2, which hybridizes with DNA1) to Au₁-(E)-cyclooctene, the assay probe MB/DNA1/DNA2/Au₁-(E)-cyclooctene (MB/Au₁) was generated. While bound to MB/DNA1, the DNA2/Au₁-(E)-cyclooctene cannot react with Au₃-N₄ due to steric hindrance from the MB. However, in the presence of ATP, the probe MB/Au₁ dissociates, and the resulting free DNA2/Au₁-(E)-cyclooctene can then react with the Au₃-N₄, leading to the formation of AuNP aggregates. Dark-field microscopy (DFM) images showed that the LSPR of the AuNPs shifted from the green region (AuNP monomers) to the orange-red region (AuNP aggregates) in the presence of intracellular ATP. Moreover, the AuNP aggregates were found to exhibit significant photothermal effects under 808-nm laser irradiation. Upon introducing the probe MB/Au₁ and Au₃-N₄ into HeLa cells in vitro and in vivo, and then irradiating the cells with a 808-nm NIR laser, the resulting AuNP aggregates showed promising photothermal cancer therapy performance. This assay therefore has the potential to be widely used for the identification and determination of nanoparticles in biological DFM and in tumor theranostics. Graphical abstract.

Single-Particle Enzyme Activity Assay with Spectral-Resolved Dark-Field Optical Microscopy

In a clinical assay, enzymes are essential biomarkers for human disease diagnosis. In this work, a spectral-resolved single-particle detection (SPD) method is introduced to quantify alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in human serum with a supraparticle (SP) based on MnO₂-modified gold nanoparticle (denoted as GNP@MnO₂ SP) as the probe. In the presence of ALP, 2-phospho-l-ascorbic acid trisodium salt can be hydrolyzed into l-ascorbic acid, which serves as a good reduction agent to trigger the decomposition of the MnO₂ shell on the GNP surface. Given that a trace amount of ALP exists, noticeable scattering color change can be detected at the single-particle level due to the sensitive localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect from GNPs. With spectral-resolved dark-field optical microscopy, a linear dynamic range of 0.06 to 2.48 mU/mL ( R² = 0.99) and a very low limit of detection of 5.8 μU/mL for the ALP assay are readily achieved, which is more sensitive over the methods based on ensemble sample measurement. As a consequence, this strategy opens a new avenue for the design of an ultrasensitive detection method for disease-correlated biomarker diagnosis in the future.

Color-Coded Single-Particle Pyrophosphate Assay with Dark-Field Optical Microscopy

In this work, we demonstrate a convenient yet sensitive color-coded single-particle detection method for the quantification of pyrophosphate (PPi) by using single gold nanoparticle (GNP) as the probe. The design is based on GNP-dependent catalytic deposition of Cu onto the surface of GNPs with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). Without PPi, Cu²⁺ can be directly reduced to Cu⁰ through the gold-catalyzed oxidization of NADH. In the presence of PPi, the coating process is impeded due to the strong coordination capability of PPi with Cu²⁺. The selective coating of Cu shell onto the GNPs surface results in the extraordinary red-shift of localized surface plasmon resonance from individual GNPs. By quantitatively counting the fraction of yellow particles with color-coded dark-field optical microscopy, the trace amounts of PPi in solution can be accurately quantified. The limit-of-detection is as low as 1.49 nM with a linear dynamic range of 0-4.29 μM, which is much lower than the spectroscopic measurements in bulk solution. In artificial urine sample, good recovery efficiency was achieved. As a consequence, the method demonstrated herein will find promising applications for the ultrasensitive detection of target biomolecules under biological milieu in the future.

A low cost mobile phone dark-field microscope for nanoparticle-based quantitative studies

Dark-field microscope (DFM) analysis of nanoparticle binding signal is highly useful for a variety of research and biomedical applications, but current applications for nanoparticle quantification rely on expensive DFM systems. The cost, size, limited robustness of these DFMs limits their utility for non-laboratory settings. Most nanoparticle analyses use high-magnification DFM images, which are labor intensive to acquire and subject to operator bias. Low-magnification DFM image capture is faster, but is subject to background from surface artifacts and debris, although image processing can partially compensate for background signal. We thus mated an LED light source, a dark-field condenser and a 20× objective lens with a mobile phone camera to create an inexpensive, portable and robust DFM system suitable for use in non-laboratory conditions. This proof-of-concept mobile DFM device weighs less than 400g and costs less than $2000, but analysis of images captured with this device reveal similar nanoparticle quantitation results to those acquired with a much larger and more expensive desktop DFMM system. Our results suggest that similar devices may be useful for quantification of stable, nanoparticle-based activity and quantitation assays in resource-limited areas where conventional assay approaches are not practical.

Imaging the chemical activity of single nanoparticles with optical microscopy

Chemical activity of single nanoparticles can be imaged and determined by monitoring the optical signal of each individual during chemical reactions with advanced optical microscopes. It allows for clarifying the functional heterogeneity among individuals, and for uncovering the microscopic reaction mechanisms and kinetics that could otherwise be averaged out in ensemble measurements.

Gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric biosensors

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) provide excellent platforms for the development of colorimetric biosensors as they can be easily functionalised, displaying different colours depending on their size, shape and state of aggregation. In the last decade, a variety of biosensors have been developed to exploit the extent of colour changes as nano-particles (NPs) either aggregate or disperse, in the presence of analytes. Of critical importance to the design of these methods is that the behaviour of the systems has to be reproducible and predictable. Much has been accomplished in understanding the interactions between a variety of substrates and AuNPs, and how these interactions can be harnessed as colorimetric reporters in biosensors. However, despite these developments, only a few biosensors have been used in practice for the detection of analytes in biological samples. The transition from proof of concept to market biosensors requires extensive long-term reliability and shelf life testing, and modification of protocols and design features to make them safe and easy to use by the population at large. Developments in the next decade will see the adoption of user friendly biosensors for point-of-care and medical diagnosis as innovations are brought to improve the analytical performances and usability of the current designs. This review discusses the mechanisms, strategies, recent advances and perspectives for the use of AuNPs as colorimetric biosensors.

Tuning the Gold Nanoparticle Colorimetric Assay by Nanoparticle Size, Concentration, and Size Combinations for Oligonucleotide Detection

Gold nanoparticle (GNP)-based aggregation assay is simple, fast, and employs a colorimetric detection method. Although previous studies have reported using GNP-based colorimetric assay to detect biological and chemical targets, a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of the assay and effects of GNP parameters on the assay performance is lacking. In this work, we investigated this important aspect of the GNP aggregation assay including effects of GNP concentration and size on the assay performance to detect malarial DNA. Our findings lead us to propose three major competing factors that determine the final assay performance including the nanoparticle aggregation rate, plasmonic coupling strength, and background signal. First, increasing nanoparticle size reduces the Brownian motion and thus aggregation rate, but significantly increases plasmonic coupling strength. We found that larger GNP leads to stronger signal and improved limit of detection (LOD), suggesting a dominating effect of plasmonic coupling strength. Second, higher nanoparticle concentration increases the probability of nanoparticle interactions and thus aggregation rate, but also increases the background extinction signal. We observed that higher GNP concentration leads to stronger signal at high target concentrations due to higher aggregation rate. However, the fact the optimal LOD was found at intermediate GNP concentrations suggests a balance of two competing mechanisms between aggregation rate and signal/background ratio. In summary, our work provides new guidelines to design GNP aggregation-based POC devices to meet the signal and sensitivity needs for infectious disease diagnosis and other applications.

Noise Reduction Method for Quantifying Nanoparticle Light Scattering in Low Magnification Dark-Field Microscope Far-Field Images

Nanoparticles have become a powerful tool for cell imaging and biomolecule, cell and protein interaction studies, but are difficult to rapidly and accurately measure in most assays. Dark-field microscope (DFM) image analysis approaches used to quantify nanoparticles require high-magnification near-field (HN) images that are labor intensive due to a requirement for manual image selection and focal adjustments needed when identifying and capturing new regions of interest. Low-magnification far-field (LF) DFM imagery is technically simpler to perform but cannot be used as an alternate to HN-DFM quantification, since it is highly sensitive to surface artifacts and debris that can easily mask nanoparticle signal. We now describe a new noise reduction approach that markedly reduces LF-DFM image artifacts to allow sensitive and accurate nanoparticle signal quantification from LF-DFM images. We have used this approach to develop a "Dark Scatter Master" (DSM) algorithm for the popular NIH image analysis program ImageJ, which can be readily adapted for use with automated high-throughput assay analyses. This method demonstrated robust performance quantifying nanoparticles in different assay formats, including a novel method that quantified extracellular vesicles in patient blood sample to detect pancreatic cancer cases. Based on these results, we believe our LF-DFM quantification method can markedly decrease the analysis time of most nanoparticle-based assays to impact both basic research and clinical analyses.

Gold nanoparticles as sensitive optical probes

Recent advances in Au NP based optical sensing systems for various analytes based on absorption, fluorescence and SERS are summarized.