Optical fiber-based sensing method for nanoparticle detection through supervised back-scattering analysis: a potential contributor for biomedicine

Background: In view of the growing importance of nanotechnologies, the detection/identification of nanoparticles type has been considered of utmost importance. Although the characterization of synthetic/organic nanoparticles is currently considered a priority (eg, drug delivery devices, nanotextiles...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of nanomedicine 2019-04, Vol.14, p.2349
Main Authors: Paiva, Joana S, Jorge, Pedro A.S, Ribeiro, Rita S.R, Sampaio, Paula, Rosa, Carla C, Cunha, Joao P.S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological markers
Blood lipids
Cancer
Cancer diagnosis
Characterization
Diseases
Drug delivery systems
Fiber optic equipment
Fiber optics
Methods
Nanoparticles
Nanotechnology
Scientists
Tumors
Water
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Summary:Background: In view of the growing importance of nanotechnologies, the detection/identification of nanoparticles type has been considered of utmost importance. Although the characterization of synthetic/organic nanoparticles is currently considered a priority (eg, drug delivery devices, nanotextiles, theranostic nanoparticles), there are many examples of "naturally" generated nanostructures--for example, extracellular vesicles (EVs), lipoproteins, and virus--that provide useful information about human physiology or clinical conditions. For example, the detection of tumor-related exosomes, a specific type of EVs, in circulating fluids has been contributing to the diagnosis of cancer in an early stage. However, scientists have struggled to find a simple, fast, and low-cost method to accurately detect/identify these nanoparticles, since the majority of them have diameters between 100 and 150 nm, thus being far below the diffraction limit. Methods: This study investigated if, by projecting the information provided from short-term portions of the back-scattered laser light signal collected by a polymeric lensed optical fiber tip dipped into a solution of synthetic nanoparticles into a lower features dimensional space, a discriminant function is able to correctly detect the presence of100 nm synthetic nanoparticles in distilled water, in different concentration values. Results and discussion: This technique ensured an optimal performance (100% accuracy) in detecting nanoparticles for a concentration above or equal to 3.89 [micro]g/mL (8.74E+10 particles/mL), and a performance of 90% for concentrations below this value and higher than 1.22E-03 [micro]g/mL (2.74E+07 particles/mL), values that are compatible with human plasmatic levels of tumor-derived and other types of EVs, as well as lipoproteins currently used as potential biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases. Conclusion: The proposed technique is able to detect synthetic nanoparticles whose dimensions are similar to EVs and other "clinically" relevant nanostructures, and in concentrations equivalent to the majority of cell-derived, platelet-derived EVs and lipoproteins physiological levels. This study can, therefore, provide valuable insights towards the future development of a device for EVs and other biological nanoparticles detection with innovative characteristics. Keywords: optical fiber sensors, light scattering effects, nanoparticles detection, extracellular vesicles (EVs) detection, lipoproteins detec
ISSN:1178-2013
DOI:10.2l47/IJN.S174358