Noninvasive label-free nanoplasmonic optical imaging for real-time monitoring of in vitro amyloid fibrogenesis

It is important to develop a noninvasive label-free detection method to monitor dynamic phenomena in biology and medicine. Here, we utilize nanoplasmonic optical imaging as the noninvasive and label-free method in order to monitor in vitro amyloid fibrogenesis in real-time, which is considered as the primary pathological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease. Using Rayleigh scattering of gold nanoplasmonic probes (GNPs), which have an enhanced scattering optical cross-section due to the surface plasmon resonance, we accomplished efficient tracking of the random movements of the GNPs in A beta solution, and quantified the kinetics of the fibrogenesis. We expect that this noninvasive and label-free in vitro method can be utilized in monitoring in a wide range of other research fields as well. As future applications, we can envision long-term monitoring in neuronal cells to elucidate the mechanism of amyloid growth and NIR-based in vivo imaging with nanoplasmonic optical antennas for gene delivery, photonic gene circuits, and monitoring toward the theranostics of neurodegenerative diseases.