Monitoring of Endogenous Hydrogen Sulfide in Living Cells Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has emerged as an important gasotransmitter in diverse physiological processes, although many aspects of its roles remain unclear, partly owing to a lack of robust analytical methods. Herein we report a novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nano-sensor, 4-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl azide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs/4-AA), for detecting the endogenous H2S in living cells. The detection is accomplished with SERS spectrum changes of AuNPs/4-AA resulting from the reaction of H2S with 4-AA on AuNPs. The SERS nanosensor exhibits high selectivity toward H2S. Furthermore, AuNPs/4-AA responds to H2S within 1 min with a 0.1 mu m level of sensitivity. In particular, our SERS method can be utilized to monitor the endogenous H2S generated in living glioma cells, demonstrating its great promise in studies of pathophysiological pathways involving H2S.