麻豆淫院

In a study in the Gold Bulletin journal by a group of researchers from the Center for Applied 麻豆淫院ics and Advanced Technology (CFATA) and National School of Higher Education (ENES), Leon, both from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico, proposes the use of glycan-targeting nanoparticles, namely gold nanoparticles encapsulated with Concanavalin A (lectin), for the detection of bacteria using label-free, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

Bacterial infections represent one of the major threats to public health, especially due to the increase in drug-resistant strains. Rapid, precise and inexpensive methods are needed to detect or treat diseases caused by infections. In this work, researchers explore the use of Raman spectroscopy for detection purposes.

Raman spectroscopy has become an inevitable tool in biomedicine as it allows nondestructive, fast and reliable analysis of specific structures. Under an interesting variation, gold nanoparticles can be added to significantly enhance Raman signals, a phenomenon due to nanogold electromagnetic features.

However, cells, tissues and microorganisms display lots of chemical compounds on their surfaces, making the development of Raman-based sensors extremely difficult.

In this work, we have functionalized gold nanoparticles with Concanavalin A, a protein specifically binding to glucose and mannose. While these two sugars are commonly found in bacterial cell surfaces, the complex structures to which they are attached frequently correspond to highly species-specific glycans. Therefore, the sugar-binding gold nanoparticles may allow the enhancement of Raman signals mainly from those highly specific glycans.

Our approach made a proof of concept by adding the functional particles to three distinct bacterial samples, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Mycobacterium fortuitum, before Raman analysis.

As expected, nanoparticles were readily attached to bacterial cell surface components, and distinct Raman spectra could be obtained from each strain. Notwithstanding, a great diversity of lectins is now available, opening novel possibilities for the search for sensing methods in other biomedical applications. The reported approach is now being assessed for microbial detection in real-world samples.

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Dr Ravichandran Manisekaran is an assistant professor at the National School of Higher Education (ENES-Leon), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). His research group focuses on the design, development, and characterization of diverse nano/biomaterials for antimicrobial, anticancer, photocatalytic, and solar cell applications.
Dr Luz M Lopez Marin is a full-time researcher at the Center for Applied 麻豆淫院ics and Advanced Technology (CFATA), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She is head of Nanobi(o)ptics lab and her research lines deal with the development of vaccines and diagnostics on nanostructured platforms, and drug delivery through nanovectors and shock waves.