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Chlamydia trachomatis infections are an important sexually transmitted infection that can lead to inflammation, scarring and hydrosalpinx/infertility. However, infections are commonly clinically asymptomatic and do not receive treatment. The underlying cause of asymptomatic immunopathology remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that IgG produced during male infection enhanced the incidence of immunopathology and infertility in females. Human endocervical cells expressing the neonatal Fc Receptor (FcRn) increased translocation of human IgG-opsonized C. trachomatis. Using total IgG purified from infected male mice, we opsonized C. muridarum and then infected female mice, mimicking sexual transmission. Following infection, IgG-opsonized Chlamydia was found to transcytose the epithelial barrier in the uterus, where it was phagocytosed by antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and trafficked to the draining lymph nodes. APCs then expanded both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell populations and caused significantly more infertility in female mice infected with non-opsonized Chlamydia. Enhanced phagocytosis of IgG-opsonized Chlamydia significantly increased pro-inflammatory signalling and T cell proliferation. As IgG is transcytosed by FcRn, we utilized FcRn-/- mice and observed that shedding kinetics of Chlamydia were only affected in FcRn-/- mice infected with IgG-opsonized Chlamydia. Depletion of CD8+ T cells in FcRn-/- mice lead to a significant reduction in the incidence of infertility. Taken together, these data demonstrate that IgG seroconversion during male infection can amplify female immunopathology, dependent on FcRn transcytosis, APC differentiation and enhanced CD8 T cell responses.
Assuntos
Chlamydia , Infertilidade , Humanos , Feminino , Masculino , Animais , Camundongos , Linfócitos T CD8-Positivos , Imunoglobulina G , GenitáliaRESUMO
Extraordinarily high optical contrast is instrumental to research and applications of two-dimensional materials, such as, for rapid identification of thickness, characterisation of optical properties, and quality assessment. With optimal designs of substrate structures and light illumination conditions, unprecedented optical contrast of MoS2 on Au surfaces exceeding 430% for monolayer and over 2600% for bilayer is achieved. This is realised on custom-designed substrates of near-zero reflectance near the normal incidence. In particular, by using an aperture stop to restrict the angle of incidence, high-magnification objectives can be made to achieve extraordinarily high optical contrast in a similar way as the low-magnification objectives, but still retaining the high spatial resolution capability. The technique will allow small flakes of micrometre size to be located easily and identified with great accuracy, which will have significant implications in many applications.
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Metals have been increasingly used as substrates in devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials. However, the high reflectivity of bulk metals results in low optical contrast (<3%) and therefore poor visibility of transparent mono- and few-layer 2D materials on these surfaces. Here we demonstrate that by engineering the complex reflectivity of a purpose-designed multilayer heterostructure composed of thin Au films (2-8 nm) on SiO2/Si substrate, the optical contrast of graphene and graphene oxide (GO) can be significantly enhanced in comparison to bulk Au, up to about 3 and 5 times, respectively. In particular, we achieved â¼17% optical contrast for monolayer GO, which is even 2 times higher than that on bare SiO2/Si substrate. The experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical simulations. This concept is demonstrated for Au, but the methodology is applicable to other metals and can be adopted to design a variety of high-contrast metallic substrates. This will facilitate research and applications of 2D materials in areas such as plasmonics, photonics, catalysis and sensors.
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Non-volatile resistive switching, also known as memristor1 effect, where an electric field switches the resistance states of a two-terminal device, has emerged as an important concept in the development of high-density information storage, computing and reconfigurable systems2-9. The past decade has witnessed substantial advances in non-volatile resistive switching materials such as metal oxides and solid electrolytes. It was long believed that leakage currents would prevent the observation of this phenomenon for nanometre-thin insulating layers. However, the recent discovery of non-volatile resistive switching in two-dimensional monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenide10,11 and hexagonal boron nitride12 sandwich structures (also known as atomristors) has refuted this belief and added a new materials dimension owing to the benefits of size scaling10,13. Here we elucidate the origin of the switching mechanism in atomic sheets using monolayer MoS2 as a model system. Atomistic imaging and spectroscopy reveal that metal substitution into a sulfur vacancy results in a non-volatile change in the resistance, which is corroborated by computational studies of defect structures and electronic states. These findings provide an atomistic understanding of non-volatile switching and open a new direction in precision defect engineering, down to a single defect, towards achieving the smallest memristor for applications in ultra-dense memory, neuromorphic computing and radio-frequency communication systems2,3,11.
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Gold-mediated exfoliation of MoS2 has recently attracted considerable interest. The strong interaction between MoS2 and Au facilitates preferential production of centimeter-sized monolayer MoS2 with near-unity yield and provides a heterostructure system noteworthy from a fundamental standpoint. However, little is known about the detailed nature of the MoS2-Au interaction and its evolution with the MoS2 thickness. Here, we identify the specific vibrational and binding energy fingerprints of this interaction using Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which indicate substantial strain and charge doping in monolayer MoS2. Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy reveals heterogeneity of the MoS2-Au interaction at the nanoscale, reflecting the spatial nonconformity between the two materials. Micro-Raman spectroscopy shows that this interaction is strongly affected by the roughness and cleanliness of the underlying Au. Our results elucidate the nature of the MoS2-Au interaction and guide strain and charge doping engineering of MoS2.
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Being able to precisely control the reduction of two-dimensional graphene oxide films will open exciting opportunities for tailor-making the functionality of nanodevices with on-demand properties. Here we report the meticulously controlled reduction of individual graphene oxide flakes ranging from single to seven layers through controlled laser irradiation. It is found that the reduction can be customized in such a precise way that the film thickness can be accurately thinned with sub-nanometer resolution, facilitated by extraordinary temperature gradients >102 K nm-1 across the interlayers of graphene oxide films. Such precisely controlled reduction provides important pathways towards precision nanotechnology with custom-designed electrical, thermal, optical and chemical properties. We demonstrate that this can be exploited to fine tune the work function of graphene oxide films with unprecedented precision of only a few milli electronvolts.
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Exfoliation of large-area monolayers is important for fundamental research and technological implementation of transition-metal dichalcogenides. Various techniques have been explored to increase the exfoliation yield, but little is known about the underlying mechanism at the atomic level. Here, we demonstrate gold-assisted mechanical exfoliation of monolayer molybdenum disulfide, up to a centimeter scale. Detailed spectroscopic, microscopic, and first-principles density functional theory analyses reveal that strong van der Waals (vdW) interaction between Au and the topmost MoS2 layer facilitates the exfoliation of monolayers. However, the large-area exfoliation promoted by such strong vdW interaction is only achievable on freshly prepared clean and smooth Au surfaces, while rough surfaces and surfaces exposed to air for more than 15 min result in negligible exfoliation yields. This technique is successfully extended to MoSe2, WS2, WSe2, MoTe2, WTe2, and GaSe. In addition, electrochemical characterization reveals intriguing interactions between monolayer MoS2 and Au. A subnanometer-thick MoS2 monolayer strongly passivates the chemical properties of the underlying Au, and the Au significantly modulates the electronic band structure of the MoS2, turning it from semiconducting to metallic. This could find applications in many areas, including electrochemistry, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis.