Optical properties of plasmon-resonant bare and silica-coated nanostars used for cell imaging

We synthesized and characterized gold nanostars and their silica-coated derivatives with 7- to 50-nm shell thicknesses as contrast agents for optical imaging. The scattering and absorption coefficients of the nanoparticles (NPs) were estimated by means of collimated transmittance and diffuse reflectance/transmittance analyses. The contrasting properties of the nanostructures were studied in optical coherence tomography glass capillary imaging. The silica-coated nanostars with the thickest shell have higher scattering ability in comparison with bare nanostars. Viability assays confirmed weak in vitro toxicity of nanostructures at up to ∼200-μg/mL concentrations. We showed real-time visualization of nanostars in both agarose and cultured cells by analyzing the backscattering signal using a conventional laser confocal microscope. The signal intensity detected from the silica-coated NPs was almost 1.5 times higher in comparison with bare nanostars. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that conventional laser confocal microscopy was applied in combined scattering and transmitted light modes to detect the backscattered signal of gold nanostars, which is useful for direct monitoring of the uptake, translocation, and accumulation of NPs in living cells.