Raman-tag labelled Au@ZIF-8 for cell metabolism monitoring in vitro.

Cell metabolism decides the state of cells in division, differentiation and growth, maintaining intracellular balance. Monitoring the metabolic behavior of cells is of great significance to study the development of diseases in cell levels. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful technique to detect and quantify analytes in extremely low concentration. Combined with SRES technology, we can monitor the concentration of metabolites in live cells and thus study the biological behavior of cells. In this work, Raman-tag labelled Au@ZIF-8 nanoparticles were used to monitor the distribution of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in SKOV3 cells. With the help of the ultrasensitive Raman enhancement material, the distribution of ROS in SKOV3 cells was mapped, the results were further confirmed in the fluorescent images. The SERS platform provides an ultrasensitive monitoring method of ROS distribution, which may offer an opportunity for real-time monitoring the cell metabolism in the cell biology applications.