Nanoplasmonic pillars engineered for single exosome detection

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Exosomes are crucial nanovesicles for intercellular communication, involved in development, healing, and disease.
• Their heterogeneous content and low in vivo concentrations pose challenges for detection and characterization.
• Current real-time, multiplexed platforms lack sufficient sensitivity for single exosome analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a highly sensitive nanosensing array for single exosome detection.
• To enable label-free, real-time, and multiplexed characterization of exosomes.
• To overcome limitations of existing exosome detection technologies.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of elliptically-shaped nanoplasmonic sensors on quartz nanopillars using nano- and microfabrication.
• Real-time, individual imaging of nanosensors to record digital responses.
• Validation using exosomes secreted by MCF7 breast adenocarcinoma cells.

Main Results:

• Achieved a three orders of magnitude sensitivity improvement over previous real-time multiplexed platforms.
• Demonstrated label-free, digital recording of single exosome responses.
• Observed a digital and stochastic response pattern as sensor subsampling decreased.

Conclusions:

• The developed nanosensing array offers unprecedented sensitivity for single exosome detection.
• This platform facilitates label-free, real-time analysis, advancing exosome research.
• The findings highlight the potential for improved diagnostics and understanding of exosome-mediated processes.