Plasmonic Silver Nanoshells for Drug and Metabolite Detection

Huang, L.; Wan, J.; Wei, X.; Liu, Y.; et al.

Given the demand for improved analytical methods for biomedical applications, Qian et al. developed plasmonic silver nanoshells for metabolite detection in clinical in vitro diagnostics. The SiO2@Ag nanoshells were first synthesized (by hard templating method) and characterized (through various electron microscopy techniques) to ensure selective analyte trapping prior to high throughput MS screening by laser desorption/ionization. The utility of this designer platform was evaluated in complex biofluids for disease diagnosis (of patients with postoperative brain infection) and therapeutic evaluation (of patients with cerebral edema for pharmacokinetics study), with quantitation enhanced through the use of ¹³C-labeled metabolites.