The application of Silver nanoparticle based SERS in diagnosing thyroid tissue

Abstract

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is proved to be a powerful analytical tool for investigation of biological tissue. In this study, SERS based on Ag nanoparticles was used to investigate the normal and cancerous thyroid tissue. Preliminary results indicated that Raman peaks and the spectra profile from both normal and cancerous tissues showed a basic similarity, obvious differences are that, first, Raman peaks 563cm−1, 1449cm−1 and 1587cm−1 in cancerous tissue decreased obviously compared with the normal thyroid tissue. Besides, Raman peaks 1004cm−1 and 1128cm−1 might be specific peaks for normal thyroid tissue, whereas 1294cm−1 might attribute to specific peak for cancerous thyroid tissue. In addition, some peaks in normal thyroid tissue appeared to have shifted in cancerous tissue. Intensity ratio of 656cm−1 vs. 725cm−1 in normal tissue are significantly different from cancerous tissue (P<0.005), and it can be a reference for spectroscopic diagnostics of thyroid tissue. This study demonstrates that SERS can be used to monitor the changes at molecular level as well as a complementary tool in thyroid histopathology.