Myoglobin and Polydopamine‐Engineered Raman Nanoprobes for Detecting, Imaging, and Monitoring Reactive Oxygen Species in Biological Samples and Living Cells

Abstract Highly reliable detection, imaging, and monitoring of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are critical for understanding and studying the biological roles and pathogenesis of ROS. This study describes the design and synthesis of myoglobin and polydopamine‐engineered surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (MP‐SERS) nanoprobes with strong, tunable SERS signals that allow for specifically detecting and imaging ROS sensitively and quantitatively. The study shows that a polydopamine nanolayer can facilitate the modification of Raman‐active myoglobins and satellite Au nanoparticles (s‐AuNPs) to a plasmonic core AuNP (c‐AuNP) in a controllable manner and the generation of plasmonically coupled hot spots between a c‐AuNP and s‐AuNPs that can induce strong SERS signals. The six‐coordinated Fe(III)‐OH2 of myoglobins in plasmonic hotspots is reacted with ROS (H2O2, •OH, and O2−) to form Fe(IV)O. The…