Fundamental studies investigating the biological effects induced by nanoparticles (NPs) explicitly require the correct assessment of their intracellular concentration. Ultrasensitive atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is perceived as one of the gold standard methods for quantifying internalized NPs. Besides its limitation to metal-based NPs though, AAS also requires specific infrastructure and tedious sample preparation and handling, making it time-consuming and cost-intensive.

Our study revealed an excellent correlation between data from AAS and PRS regarding the assessment of the intracellular concentration of NPs.

For daily routine practice, as far as the analyzed NPs absorb light in the UV-VIS spectrum and it is possible to select a wavelength that does not interfere with other components in the measured samples, PRS could be used as fast cost-effective full-fledged alternative to AAS for determination of intracellular uptake of NPs.

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