Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors Incorporating Gold Nanoparticles

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience 2012-06, Vol.12 (6), p.724-739
• Main Authors: Bedford, Erin E., Spadavecchia, Jolanda, Pradier, Claire-Marie, Gu, Frank X.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biosensors; Biotechnology; Catalysis; Chemical Sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gold - chemistry; gold nanoparticles; Humans; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; Methods. Procedures. Technologies; Sensitivity and Specificity; sensors; surface plasmon resonance (SPR); Surface Plasmon Resonance - instrumentation; Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods; surfaces; Various methods and equipments
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.201100435

SPR biosensing is increasingly popular for the detection of a multitude of biomolecules. It offers label‐free detection and study of proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules in real time. A recent trend involves incorporation of AuNPs, either within the sensing surface itself or as signal enhancing tagging molecules. The importance of AuNP and detecting agent spacing is described and techniques using macromolecular spacing aids are highlighted. Recent methods to enhance SPR detection capabilities using gold nanoparticles are reviewed, as well as device fabrication and the results of incorporation. SPR detection is a highly versatile method for the detection of biomolecules and, with the incorporation of AuNPs, shows promise in extending it to a number of new applications. The incorporation of gold nanoparticles in surface plasmon resonance biosensing can be used to improve device sensitivity. A number of formats have been used in which gold nanoparticles enhance the signal for detecting a variety of biomolecules, including both label‐free and labeled methods. These methods as well as device fabrication and the results of incorporation are reviewed.