Optical microscopy has been an important tool in biology for about a century. Here we report the development of two-photon SHG imaging of live cancer cells selectively by enhancement of the nonlinear optical response of gold nanocages assemblies. Experimental results show that values of the first-order microscopic hyperpolarizability � can be increased by up to three orders of magnitude by just developing nanoparticles  self assembly. Theoretical modeling indicates that the field enhancement values for the nanocage assembly can explain, in part, the enhanced b values. Our experimental data also shows that the A9 RNA aptamer conjugated gold nanocage assembly can be used for targeted SHG imaging of the LNCaP prostate cancer cell. Experimental results with the HaCaT normal skin cell line show that bio-conjugated nanocage-based assemblies demonstrate SHG imaging that is highly selective and will be able to distinguish targeted cancer cell lines from other non-targeted cell lines. After optimization, this reported SHG imaging assay could have enormous application for biology.

Gold nanocage assembly for selective second harmonic generation imaging

247th National Meeting (2014)

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