CC BY
11LP-I-5
Synthesis by pulsed laser ablation in liquid of noble metal-based colloids to detect anti-epileptic drugs
E. Fazio1
1Universita di Messina, Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche ed Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze della Terra MIFT, Messina, Italy
Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) as thin films, or in colloidal state are widely studied, due to their surface plasmon resonances (SPR) of interest for biological sensing. Given the distinctive characteristics of epilepsy, the measurement of the concentration of Anti-Epileptic Drugs (AEDs) in the blood serum of a patient is essential for a positive clinical treatment to prevent seizures by adopting the suitable drug posology [1]. This procedure, that is named Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM), is helpful to improve the life quality of the epileptic patients. TDM output is strongly patient-dependent and required to personalize therapy and to adjust the posology for variable pharmacokinetics.
Nowadays, state of the art TDM of AEDs (including Perampanel - PER, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) of Fycompa®), employs reliable, but expensive and time-consuming analytical methods (immunoassay and chromatographic techniques). In recent years we proposed and tested a complementary TDM spectroscopic approach based on Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) using ad hoc engineered noble metal based plasmonic substrates [2].
In this contribution, we discuss noble metal-based substrates obtained by spraying colloids prepared by the Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL) technique. Such substrates were tested as SERS sensors focusing on PER. Sensors with tunable SPR position can be produced by PLAL, analyzing the different experimental conditions to optimize the SERS intensity. The successful SERS measurement of PER is promising toward clinical application.
References
[1] P.N. Patsalos PN1, E. P. Spencer, D.J. Berry, Ther. Drug Monit. 40(5), 526-548 (2018).
[2] M. Tommasini et al., Nanomaterials, 9, 677 (2019).
