Aptamer-Based Silver Nanoparticles Used for Intracellular Protein Imaging and Single Nanoparticle Spectral Analysis

Aptamer-adapted silver nanoparticles (Apt-AgNPs) were developed its a novel optical probe for simultaneous intracellular protein imaging and single nanoparticle spectral analysis, wherein AgNPs act as an illuminophore and the aptamer as a biomolecule Specific recognition unit, respectively. It Was found that streptavidin-conjugated and aptamer-functionalized AgNPs show satisfactory biocompatibility and stability in cell Culture medium, and thus not only can act as a high contrast imaging agent for both dark-field light scattering microscope and TEM imaging but also call inspire Supersensitive single nanoparticle spectra for potential intercellular microenvironment analysis. Further investigations showed that caveolae-related endocytosis is likely a necessary pathway for Apt-AgNPs labeled PrPc internalization in human bone marrow neuroblastoma cells (SK-N-SH cells). The integrated capability of Apt-AgNPs to be used as light scattering and TEM imaging agents, along with their potential use for single nanoparticle spectral analysis, makes them a great promise for Future biomedical imaging and disease diagnosis.