Rhodamine B doped silica nanoparticle labels for protein microarray detection

A core-shell Rhodamine B-doped SiO2 nanoparticle was synthesized and its fluorescent intensity was found to be 1000 times higher than that of individual Rhodamine B molecule. The doped nanoparticles were further conjugated with streptavidin and the resulting nanoparticles were used in the detection of reverse-phase protein microarrays, in which human IgG of various concentrations was first immobilized on aldehyde-modified glass slides and then biotinlyated goat anti human IgG as well as the labeled nanoparticles were sequentially conjugated. The calibration curve is linear over the range from 800 fg to 500 pg and the limit of detection is 100 fg, which is 8 times lower than that of streptavidin-labeled Cy3 fluorescent dyes. The dye-doped SiO2 nanoparticles show potentials for the protein array detection.