标题： 用WGM微腔混合等离子体纳米尖端天线探测单个神经递质 显示英文标题

标题： Probing the single neurotransmitters with the WGM microcavity-hybridized plasmonic nanospiked antennas

摘要： 识别神经递质失调是神经疾病和障碍的特征，包括阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病和多发性硬化症。 突触间隙中神经递质的浓度特别低，范围从nM到fM，这使得使用现有传感技术在临床试验过程中准确监测变化具有挑战性。 通过一种与等离子纳米尖端天线结合的先进 whispering gallery mode (WGM) 传感器，我们能够在单分子水平上检测和区分不同的神经递质。 我们的结果表明，该传感器可以以高达10 aM的卓越灵敏度检测神经递质，并在大量检测事件中区分结构相似的神经递质，如GABA和谷氨酸。 此外，我们发现由神经递质结合到传感器上引起的平均WGM共振偏移与从电子结构计算中获得的分子极化率值有很强的相关性。 这些发现确立了光子等离子体WGM传感器作为不同神经科学领域的潜在生物传感器平台，通过检测和区分神经递质以及在超低浓度下研究它们的动力学，可能有助于更深入地理解大脑功能和神经疾病。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Discerning the neurotransmitter dysregulation is a hallmark of neurological disorders and diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple sclerosis. The concentration of neurotransmitters in the synaptic cleft is particularly low, ranging from nM to fM, which makes it challenging to accurately monitor changes over the course of a clinical trial using existing sensing techniques. By means of an advanced whispering gallery mode (WGM) sensor hybridized with plasmonic nanospiked antennas, we detect and discriminate between different neurotransmitters at the single-molecule level. Our results show that the sensor can detect neurotransmitters with exceptional sensitivity down to 10 aM and discriminate between structurally similar neurotransmitters, such as GABA and glutamate, over a large number of detection events. Furthermore, we find that the average WGM resonance shift, induced by a neurotransmitter binding to the sensor, strongly correlates with molecular polarizability values obtained from electronic structure calculations. These findings establish the optoplasmonic WGM sensors as potential biosensor platform in different avenues of neuroscience by detecting and discriminating neurotransmitters as well as investigating their dynamics at ultra low-level concentrations, plausibly contributing to deeper understanding of brain function and neurological disorders.