A plasmonic Au-Ag janus nanoprobe for monitoring endogenous hydrogen sulfide generation in living cells

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an essential intracellular gasotransmitter undertaking numerous signaling roles and physiological effects. Herein, an ingenious anisotropic gold (Au)-silver (Ag) Janus plasmonic nanoprobe was constructed based on the dark-field light scattering imaging for the detection of exogenous and endogenous H2S . In the presence of sulfide, the Ag islands as the sensing agent were susceptible to oxidation to Ag2S, which induced changes in the longitudinal localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) properties of Au-Ag Janus nanoparticles (JNPs), resulting in remarkable and distinctive scattering color changes as well as spectral shifts. The JNPs exhibited satisfying anti-interference capability and a good linear relationship with a low detection limit of 0.11 nM. Additionally, this distinct nanoprobe was successfully applied to monitor endogenous H2S as well as map local variations of H2S in real-time with its unique intuition and sensitivity in intracellular imaging applications. This work provided a promising application in the plasmonic detection of intracellular H2S and paved insight into the H2S -related biological process.

Automated summary

In this study, an ingenious gold-silver Janus plasmonic nanoprobe was developed for the detection of intracellular hydrogen sulfide (H2S). The nanoprobe exhibited good anti-interference capability, low detection limit, and the ability to monitor real-time variations of H2S in cells. This work provides a promising tool for studying H2S-related biological processes.