Bioconjugation of barium titanate nanocrystals with immunoglobulin G antibody for second harmonic radiation imaging probes

The second harmonic generation (SHG) active nanocrystals have been demonstrated as attractive imaging probes in nonlinear microscopy due to their coherent, non-bleaching and non-blinking signals with a broad flexibility in the choice of excitation wavelength. For the use of these nanocrystals as biomarkers, it is essential to prepare a chemical interface for specific labeling. We developed a specific labeling scheme for barium titanate (BaTiO3) nanocrystals which we use as second harmonic radiation imaging probes. The specificity was achieved by covalently coupling antibodies onto the nanocrystals. We demonstrate highly specific labeling of the nanocrystal conjugates in an antibody microarray and also the membrane proteins of live biological cells in vitro. The development of surface functionalization and bioconjugation of SHG active nanocrystals provides the opportunities of applying them to biological studies. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.