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Laser-targeted photofabrication of gold nanoparticles inside cells

2014; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 5; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/ncomms6144

2041-1723

Nicholas I. Smith, Kentaro Mochizuki, Hirohiko Niioka, Satoshi Ichikawa, Nicolas Pavillon, Alison J. Hobro, Jun Ando, Katsumasa Fujita, Yutaro Kumagai,

Photoreceptor and optogenetics research

Nanoparticle manipulation is of increasing interest, since they can report single molecule-level measurements of the cellular environment. Until now, however, intracellular nanoparticle locations have been essentially uncontrollable. Here we show that by infusing a gold ion solution, focused laser light-induced photoreduction allows in situ fabrication of gold nanoparticles at precise locations. The resulting particles are pure gold nanocrystals, distributed throughout the laser focus at sizes ranging from 2 to 20 nm, and remain in place even after removing the gold solution. We demonstrate the spatial control by scanning a laser beam to write characters in gold inside a cell. Plasmonically enhanced molecular signals could be detected from nanoparticles, allowing their use as nano-chemical probes at targeted locations inside the cell, with intracellular molecular feedback. Such light-based control of the intracellular particle generation reaction also offers avenues for in situ plasmonic device creation in organic targets, and may eventually link optical and electron microscopy.