In vitro imaging of embryonic stem cells using multiphoton luminescence of gold nanoparticles

D Nagesha¹, GS Laevsky², P Lampton³, R Banyal¹, C Warner³, C DiMarzio², S Sridhar¹

¹Electronic Materials Research Institute and Department of Physics, ²Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, ³Department of Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

Abstract: Recent advances in nonlinear optical techniques and materials such as quantum wells, nanowires and noble-metal nanoparticles have led to advances in cellular imaging wherein various nanoparticles have been shown to improve both in vitro and in vivo visualization. In this paper, we demonstrate in vitro imaging using multi-photon photoluminescence of gold nanoparticles from two different cell types – Dictyostelium discoideum and mouse embryonic stem cells. By observing nanoparticles we show that embryonic stem cells maintained their ability to proliferate for several passages while grown in the presence of gold nanoparticles. The advantages of multi-photon luminescence using gold nanoparticles have important implications for use in stem cell proliferation experiments and in vitro experiments to monitor differentiation.

Keywords: gold nanoparticles, multiphton absorption induced luminescence, mouse embryonic stem cells, visualization