The development of a sensor for the rapid and sensitive detection of neurotransmitters could provide a pathway for the diagnosis of neurological diseases, leading to the discovery of more effective treatment methods. We investigate the use of surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) based sensors for the rapid detection of melatonin, serotonin, glutamate, dopamine, GABA, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Previous studies have demonstrated SERS detection of neurotransmitters; however, there has been no comprehensive study on the effect of the metal used as the SERS substrate or the excitation wavelength used for detection. Here, we present the detection of 7 neurotransmitters using both silver and gold nanoparticles at excitation wavelengths of 532, 633, and 785 nm. Over the range of wavelengths investigated, the SERS enhancement on the silver and gold nanoparticles varies, with an average enhancement factor of 10⁵–10⁶. The maximum SERS enhancement occurs at an excitation wavelength of 785 nm for the gold nanoparticles and at 633 nm for the silver nanoparticles.

中文翻译：

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神经递质的多金属，多波长表面增强拉曼光谱检测

快速，灵敏地检测神经递质的传感器的开发可以为神经系统疾病的诊断提供一条途径，从而导致发现更有效的治疗方法。我们研究了基于表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）的传感器对褪黑激素，5-羟色胺，谷氨酸，多巴胺，GABA，去甲肾上腺素和肾上腺素的快速检测。先前的研究表明SERS检测到了神经递质。但是，对于用作SERS底物的金属或用于检测的激发波长的影响尚未进行全面研究。在这里，我们介绍了在532、633和785 nm激发波长下使用银和金纳米颗粒同时检测7种神经递质的方法。在研究的波长范围内，^{5 –} 10 ⁶。对于金纳米粒子，最大SERS增强发生在785 nm的激发波长处，对于银纳米粒子，最大SERS增强发生在633 nm处。