Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-encoded nanoparticles are used for bioimaging, on account of their well-defined Raman spectra and biocompatibility, which allow long incubation times with high signal stability and no cytotoxicity. However, reliable analysis of SERS bioimaging requires quantification of the amount of encoded nanoparticles that have been taken up by cells and the effect of subsequent dilution due to cellular division (mitosis). Although methods such as elemental analysis and flow cytometry can be used to quantify nanoparticle uptake, these are both end-point measurements in which a cell population is screened rather than looking at individual cells. In contrast, SERS imaging can be applied at multiple timepoints to the same individual cells without damaging the biological sample. We present the application of both supervised and unsupervised multivariate analyses, to quantify the intracellular amount of SERS tags in individual MCF7 living cells, toward the characterization of cellular uptake in vitro. The obtained results from both methodologies were validated by standard elemental analysis techniques.

中文翻译：

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活细胞表面增强拉曼散射成像与化学计量学相结合研究细胞内纳米粒子动力学

表面增强拉曼散射 (SERS) 编码的纳米颗粒用于生物成像，因为它们具有明确定义的拉曼光谱和生物相容性，允许长孵育时间、高信号稳定性和无细胞毒性。然而，SERS 生物成像的可靠分析需要量化已被细胞吸收的编码纳米颗粒的数量以及随后由于细胞分裂（有丝分裂）而引起的稀释效应。虽然元素分析和流式细胞术等方法可用于量化纳米颗粒的摄取，但这些都是终点测量，其中筛选细胞群而不是查看单个细胞。相比之下，SERS 成像可以在多个时间点应用于相同的单个细胞，而不会损坏生物样品。体外。通过标准元素分析技术验证了两种方法获得的结果。