Multi-metal, Multi-wavelength Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Detection of Neurotransmitters

Abstract

The development of a sensor for the rapid and sensitive detection of neurotransmitters could provide a pathway for the diagnosis of neurological diseases, leading to the discovery of more effective treatment methods. We investigate the use of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based sensors for the rapid detection of melatonin, serotonin, glutamate, dopamine, GABA, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Previous studies have demonstrated SERS detection of neurotransmitters; however, there has been no comprehensive study on the effect of the metal used as the SERS substrate or the excitation wavelength used for detection. Here, we present the detection of 7 neurotransmitters using both silver and gold nanoparticles at excitation wavelengths of 532, 633, and 785 nm. Over the range of wavelengths investigated, the SERS enhancement on the silver and gold nanoparticles varies, with an average enhancement factor of 10-10. The maximum SERS enhancement occurs at an excitation wavelength of 785 nm for the gold nanoparticles and at 633 nm for the silver nanoparticles.

Self-absorption corrected non-invasive transmission Raman spectroscopy (of biological tissue)

“…This finding is vitally important for the general applicability of TRS, in situations where inter-and intra-sample thickness can differ, as it considerably increases the sensitivity of TRS in these circumstances. Relevant deep Raman applications include non-invasive disease diagnosis 44,45 such as cancer detection in vivo, non-invasive neurotransmitter quantification, 46,47 glucose sensing 48 and blood sensing, 49 to name but a few.…”

The highly sensitive determination of serotonin by using gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption wavelength in the visible region

“…51 Several methods have been reported for measuring serotonin, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), 52 the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 53 and SERS. 54 HPLC has been widely used for serotonin determination in blood. It is a high-efficiency and high-sensitivity detection method but there are some drawbacks, as the procedure is complicated, with no universal detector and the need for time-consuming sample preparation.…”

Rapid and sensitive surface‐enhanced resonance Raman spectroscopy detection for norepinephrine in biofluids

“…Nowadays, surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) as a kind of rapid analysis method has been widely concerned and applied in neurotransmitters, drug detection, food safety, multicomponent measurement, and plasmon‐enhanced devices . SERS not only can provide the fingerprint information of the analyte molecules but also has the main advantages of less time‐consuming, sensitive, and nondestructive .…”