SERS diagnosis of liver fibrosis in the early stage based on gold nanostar liver targeting tags.

In order to realize the accurate and early diagnosis of liver fibrosis, a long slow pathological process which may lead to cirrhosis or even liver cancer, liver targeting tags made up of gold nanostars and glycyrrhetinic acid are reported in this paper. Gold nanostars (GNSs) and GNS liver targeting tags (GLTTs) were injected into model mice with stage S1 liver fibrosis and normal mice via the tail vein respectively, then the SERS spectra were collected. GLTTs had a better detection effect on liver tissue than unmodified GNSs (12.85 times), and better detection reproducibility as well. Moreover, according to the MTT and survival analysis experiments, GLTTs also had better biocompatibility. Hence, the changes of 10 SERS signals and other substances in the early stage of liver fibrosis were analyzed at the molecular level, and the SERS characteristic peaks that could be used for the diagnosis of early liver fibrosis were screened out. Revealed by the experimental results, the GLTTs designed and prepared were applicable to the efficient SERS detection of early liver fibrosis in mice, and the strategy we have proposed might be a potential approach for the early diagnosis of this disease in clinics.