Abstract
Femtosecond (fs) pulsed laser irradiation techniques have attracted interest as a photonic approach for the selective inactivation of virus contaminations in biological samples. Conventional pulsed laser approaches require, however, relatively long irradiation times to achieve a significant inactivation of virus. In this study, we investigate the enhancement of the photonic inactivation of Murine Leukemia Virus (MLV) via 805 nm femtosecond pulses through gold nanorods whose localized surface plasmon resonance overlaps with the excitation laser. We report a plasmonically enhanced virus inactivation, with greater than 3.7-log reduction measured by virus infectivity assays. Reliable virus inactivation was obtained for 10 s laser exposure with incident laser powers ≥0.3 W. Importantly, the fs-pulse induced inactivation was selective to the virus and did not induce any measurable damage to co-incubated antibodies. The loss in viral infection was associated with reduced viral fusion, linking the loss in infectivity with a perturbation of the viral envelope. Based on the observations that physical contact between nanorods and virus particles was not required for viral inactivation and that reactive oxygen species (ROS) did not participate in the detected viral inactivation, a model of virus inactivation based on plasmon enhanced shockwave generation is proposed.
Highlights
Pulsed lasers provide new opportunities for imaging or modulating cellular behavior in a diverse range of diagnostic[1,2] and therapeutic[3] applications
The strong E-field generated by the plasmonic nanoparticles can enhance the previously discussed virus inactivation mechanisms and, as we show in this manuscript, facilitate new virus inactivation processes
In a first set of experiments we tested the hypothesis that nanorods whose localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) overlaps with the incident fs laser pulse enhances the efficacy of light-induced laser activation
Summary
Pulsed lasers provide new opportunities for imaging or modulating cellular behavior in a diverse range of diagnostic[1,2] and therapeutic[3] applications. The current interest in photonic virus inactivation derives from the need for new technologies that achieve a selective inactivation of the pathogens in the presence of other biomolecules or even living cells in food, feed stock in pharmaceutical bioreactors, therapeutic compounds and other sensitive areas with relevance for human and animal health. For many of these applications, harsh chemical or ionizing radiation techniques are not appropriate as they lack sufficient selectivity. Our data indicate that the plasmonically enhanced photonic inactivation is highly selective towards virus particles and generates no detectable collateral damage to the antibodies, and that the mechanism of inactivation differs from those of previously established photocatalytic[18] and photothermal[19] inactivation methods
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