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Zhang Z, Li Y, Xiang Z, Huang Y, Wang R, Chang C. Dielectric dispersion characteristics of the phospholipid bilayer with subnanometer resolution from terahertz to mid-infrared. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:984880. [PMID: 36118579 PMCID: PMC9470958 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.984880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing interest in whether the myelinated nerve fiber acts as a dielectric waveguide to propagate terahertz to mid-infrared electromagnetic waves, which are presumed stable signal carrier for neurotransmission. The myelin sheath is formed as a multilamellar biomembrane structure, hence insights into the dielectric properties of the phospholipid bilayer is essential for a complete understanding of the myelinated fiber functioning. In this work, by means of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of the dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) bilayer in water and numerical calculations of carefully layered molecules along with calibration of optical dielectric constants, we for the first time demonstrate the spatially resolved (in sub-nm) dielectric spectrum of the phospholipid bilayer in a remarkably wide range from terahertz to mid-infrared. More specifically, the membrane head regions exhibit both larger real and imaginary permittivities than that of the tail counterparts in the majority of the 1–100 THz band. In addition, the spatial variation of dielectric properties suggests advantageous propagation characteristics of the phospholipid bilayer in a relatively wide band of 55–85 THz, where the electromagnetic waves are well confined within the head regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyi Zhang
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Yangmei Li
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Zuoxian Xiang
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Yindong Huang
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Ruixing Wang
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Chao Chang
- Innovation Laboratory of Terahertz Biophysics, National Innovation Institute of Defense Technology, Beijing, China
- School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China
- *Correspondence: Chao Chang,
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Zeng H, Zhang Y, Ma Y, Li S. Electromagnetic modeling and simulation of the biophoton propagation in myelinated axon waveguide. APPLIED OPTICS 2022; 61:4013-4021. [PMID: 36256074 DOI: 10.1364/ao.446845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Biophotons in the nervous system are a potential carrier of neural signals. Previous experiments and studies indicated that biophotons are closely related to the neuronal activity and can propagate along myelinated axons. We establish a multilayer electromagnetic simulation model and demonstrate that the myelinated axon waveguide has low attenuation and low dispersion and operates in a narrow bandwidth on the order of 10 nm. We also find that the operating wavelength of the waveguide is almost linearly related to the axon diameter and the number of myelin layers. Each additional layer of the myelin sheath causes the operating wavelength of the myelinated axon waveguide to shift 52.3 nm to the long-wave direction, while an increase in the axon diameter of 1.0 µm causes the operating wavelength to shift 94.5 nm to the short-wave direction. These findings well explain the tendency of the spectral redshift among different species and the spectral blueshift during the aging process of mice. Via the analysis method in this paper, we can predict the wavelength of the propagating biophotons based on the neural structure.
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Siddiquee AM, Houri A, Messalea KA, Lin J, Daeneke T, Abbey B, Mechler A, Kou S. Nanoscale Probing of Cholesterol-Rich Domains in Single Bilayer Dimyristoyl-Phosphocholine Membranes Using Near-Field Spectroscopic Imaging. J Phys Chem Lett 2020; 11:9476-9484. [PMID: 33108191 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Cholesterol is believed to induce the formation of membrane domains, "rafts", which are implicated in a range of natural and pathologic membrane processes. Therefore, it is important to understand the role that cholesterol plays in the formation of these structures. Here, we use label-free spectroscopic imaging to investigate cholesterol fractioning in supported bilayer membranes at nanoscale. Scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) was used to visualize the formation of cholesterol-induced domains in 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) membranes. Our results revealed the coexistence of phase separated domains in DMPC lipids with 10 mol % cholesterol content, whereas a mostly homogeneous bilayer was found at low (5 mol %) and high (15 mol %) cholesterol content. Near-field nano-FTIR spectroscopy was used to identify the cholesterol-rich domains based on their qualitative chemical compositions. It was determined that cholesterol binds to phosphodiester and alkyl glycerol ester moieties, likely via hydrogen bonding of the alcohol to either of the ester oxygens. The results also confirm the existence of an ideal cholesterol-lipid mixture ratio (∼15:85) with a geometrically defined packing. At lower cholesterol content there is phase separation between liquid ordered and almost neat DMPC domains. Thus, the liquid ordered phase exists at an energy minimum at a given lipid-cholesterol ratio.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arif M Siddiquee
- Department of Electronic Science, Fujian Research Center for Solid-State Lighting, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Aamd Houri
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Kibret A Messalea
- School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
| | - Jiao Lin
- School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
| | - Torben Daeneke
- School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
| | - Brian Abbey
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Adam Mechler
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Shanshan Kou
- Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Advanced Molecular Imaging, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
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Quaroni L. Imaging and spectroscopy of domains of the cellular membrane by photothermal-induced resonance. Analyst 2020; 145:5940-5950. [PMID: 32706007 DOI: 10.1039/d0an00696c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We use photothermal induced resonance (PTIR) imaging and spectroscopy, in resonant and non-resonant mode, to study the cytoplasmic membrane and surface of intact cells. Non-resonant PTIR images apparently provide rich details of the cell surface. However, we show that non-resonant image contrast does not arise from the infrared absorption of surface molecules and is instead dominated by the mechanics of tip-sample contact. In contrast, spectra and images of the cellular surface can be selectively obtained by tuning the pulsing structure of the laser to restrict thermal wave penetration to the surface layer. Resonant PTIR images reveal surface structures and domains that range in size from about 20 nm to 1 μm and are associated with the cytoplasmic membrane and its proximity. Resonant PTIR spectra of the cell surface are qualitatively comparable to far-field IR spectra and provide the first selective measurement of the IR absorption spectrum of the cellular membrane of an intact cell. In resonant PTIR images, signal intensity, and therefore contrast, can be ascribed to a variety of factors, including mechanical, thermodynamic and spectroscopic properties of the cellular surface. While PTIR images are difficult to interpret in terms of spectroscopic absorption, they are easy to collect and provide unique contrast mechanisms without any exogenous labelling. As such they provide a new paradigm in cellular imaging and membrane biology and can be used to address a range of critical questions, from the nature of membrane lipid domains to the mechanism of pathogen infection of a host cell.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Quaroni
- Department of Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, 30-387, Kraków, Poland.
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