Detection of Glutamate Encapsulated in Liposomes by Optical Trapping Raman Spectroscopy.

The transmission of neuronal information is propagated through synapses by neurotransmitters released from presynapses to postsynapses. Neurotransmitters released from the presynaptic vesicles activate receptors on the postsynaptic membrane. Glutamate acts as a major excitatory neurotransmitter for synaptic vesicles in the central nervous system. Determining the concentration of glutamate in single synaptic vesicles is essential for understanding the mechanisms of neuronal activation by glutamate in normal brain functions as well as in neurological diseases. However, it is difficult to detect and quantitatively measure the concentration of glutamate in single synaptic vesicles owing to their small size, i.e., ∼40 nm. In this study, to quantitatively evaluate the concentrations of the contents in small membrane-bound vesicles, we developed an optical trapping Raman spectroscopic system that analyzes the Raman spectra of small objects captured using optical trapping. Using artificial liposomes encapsulating glutamate that mimic synaptic vesicles, we investigated whether spontaneous Raman scattered light of glutamate can be detected from vesicles trapped at the focus using optical forces. A 575 nm laser beam was used to simultaneously perform the optical trapping of liposomes and the detection of the spontaneous Raman scattered light. The intensity of Raman scattered light that corresponds to lipid bilayers increased with time. This observation suggested that the number of liposomes increased at the focal point. The number of glutamate molecules in the trapped liposomes was estimated from the calibration curve of the Raman spectra of glutamate solutions with known concentration. This method can be used to measure the number of glutamate molecules encapsulated in synaptic vesicles in situ.

Laser fabrication of Au nanorod aggregates microstructures assisted by two-photon polymerization.

We demonstrate fabrication of Au nanorod aggregates microstructures by means of a femtosecond near-infrared laser. The laser light was tightly focused into colloidal Au nanorods dispersed in photopolymerizable metyl-methacrylate (MMA) compound to induce two-photon polymerization (TPP). TPP of MMA glued the nanorods together to form solid microstrucures of aggregates. The laser light excited a local surface plasmon, resulting in confinement of TPP in the vicinity of nanorods. Concurrenly occurring optical accumulation of nanorods created a unique mechanism for the formation of nanorod aggregates into desired microstructures. This technique would be a clue for a novel micro/nanofabrication method for plasmonic materials and devices.

Deuterated Glutamate-Mediated Neuronal Activity on Micro-Electrode Arrays.

The excitatory synaptic transmission is mediated by glutamate in neuronal networks of the mammalian brain. In addition to the synaptic glutamate, extra-synaptic glutamate is known to modulate the neuronal activity. In neuronal networks, glutamate uptake is an important role of neurons and glial cells for lowering the concentration of extracellular glutamate and to avoid the excitotoxicity by glutamate. Monitoring the spatial distribution of intracellular glutamate is important to study the uptake of glutamate, but the approach has been hampered by the absence of appropriate glutamate analogs that report the localization of glutamate. Deuterium-labeled glutamate (GLU-D) is a promising tracer for monitoring the intracellular concentration of glutamate, but physiological properties of GLU-D have not been studied. Here we study the effects of extracellular GLU-D for the neuronal activity by using primary cultured rat hippocampal neurons that form neuronal networks on microelectrodes array. The frequency of firing in the spontaneous activity of neurons increased with the increasing concentration of extracellular GLU-D. The frequency of synchronized burst activity in neurons increased similarly as we observed in the spontaneous activity. These changes of the neuronal activity with extracellular GLU-D were suppressed by antagonists of glutamate receptors. These results suggest that GLU-D can be used as an analog of glutamate with equivalent effects for facilitating the neuronal activity. We anticipate GLU-D developing as a promising analog of glutamate for studying the dynamics of glutamate during neuronal activity.

Selective metal deposition on photoswitchable molecular surfaces.

We report here a novel phenomenon: selective metal deposition on photoswitchable diarylethene (DAE) surfaces. Magnesium vapor was deposited by vacuum evaporation on the colored DAE but not on the uncolored surface. The selective deposition originates in the change of the glass transition temperature of the amorphous DAE film resulting from photoisomerization and therefore from changes of surface molecular motion. We clarified that Mg atoms on the uncolored surface actively migrated on the surface and were desorbed from the surface. The possibility of depositing other metals is also discussed. Light-controllable metal-integrated deposition was demonstrated as a new function of the photoswitchable molecular surfaces. This study reveals new features of the photoswitchable molecular surfaces, and their potential suggests bright prospects for future applications in organic electronics.

Size dependent nanomechanics of coil spring shaped polymer nanowires.

Direct laser writing (DLW) via two-photon polymerization (TPP) has been established as a powerful technique for fabrication and integration of nanoscale components, as it enables the production of three dimensional (3D) micro/nano objects. This technique has indeed led to numerous applications, including micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems (MEMS/NEMS), metamaterials, mechanical metamaterials, and photonic crystals. However, as the feature sizes decrease, an urgent demand has emerged to uncover the mechanics of nanosized polymer materials. Here, we fabricate coil spring shaped polymer nanowires using DLW via two-photon polymerization. We find that even the nanocoil springs follow a linear-response against applied forces, following Hooke's law, as revealed by compression tests using an atomic force microscope. Further, the elasticity of the polymer material is found to become significantly greater as the wire radius is decreased from 550 to 350 nm. Polarized Raman spectroscopy measurements show that polymer chains are aligned in nanowires along the axis, which may be responsible for the size dependence. Our findings provide insight into the nanomechanics of polymer materials fabricated by DLW, which leads to further applications based on nanosized polymer materials.

Direct laser writing of 3D architectures of aligned carbon nanotubes.

Direct laser writing through two-photon polymerization lithography is used to fabricate 3D nanostructures containing aligned single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). SWCNTs are aligned in the laser scanning directions while they are embedded in the structure. The alignment is induced by spatial confinement, volume shrinkage, and the optical gradient force. This method is expected to lead to new applications based on aligned SWCNTs.