Nanoparticles for Signaling in Biodiagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases

Colino, Clara I.; Millán, Carmen Gutiérrez; Lanao, José M.

Traditional methods used for the identification of bacteria are based on the culture of the microorganisms on agar plates and the characterization of their phenotypic properties. These techniques are laborious, slow and unspecific in some cases. New methods for the identification of bacteria based on the principles of molecular biology have also been developed and specially polymerase chain reactions (PCR) based methods [20, 21] . In the last decade, different methods based on the combination of sensitive techniques such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), electrochemical methods or fluorescence methods combined with the use of nanoparticles, especially metal nanoparticles, for rapid and sensitive identification of bacteria have been developed. In addition, some of these methods also allow the killing of the bacteria. These methods have some general advantages in comparison with traditional methods such as shorter analysis times and the possibility to identify different types of bacteria simultaneously.