Monitoring of Endogenous Hydrogen Sulfide in Living Cells Using Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) has emerged as an important gasotransmitter in diverse physiological processes, although many aspects of its roles remain unclear, partly owing to a lack of robust analytical methods. Herein we report a novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanosensor, 4-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl azide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs/4-AA), for detecting the endogenous H2 S in living cells. The detection is accomplished with SERS spectrum changes of AuNPs/4-AA resulting from the reaction of H2 S with 4-AA on AuNPs. The SERS nanosensor exhibits high selectivity toward H2 S. Furthermore, AuNPs/4-AA responds to H2 S within 1 min with a 0.1 μM level of sensitivity. In particular, our SERS method can be utilized to monitor the endogenous H2 S generated in living glioma cells, demonstrating its great promise in studies of pathophysiological pathways involving H2 S.