Gold nanoparticle-based optical probes for sensing aminothiols

Measurement of biological aminothiols (e.g., cysteine, homocysteine and glutathione) is important for clinical diagnosis. There is growing interest in the fabrication of optical nanoprobes due to their high sensitivity, low cost, low-power requirements and high biocompatibility. We give a general overview of the different strategies for gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based optical probes for sensing aminothiols, including colorimetric, fluorescent, resonance-light scattering, chemiluminescent and surface-enhanced Raman scattering techniques. This review also summarizes these optical probes in terms of analytical performance, and discusses possible solutions to overcome some critical challenges facing these methods. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.