Translational Diffusion Behavior Research Articles

Study on intracellular delivery of liposome encapsulated quantum dots using advanced fluorescence microscopy

Quantum dots increasingly gain popularity for in vivo applications. However, their delivery and accumulation into cells can be challenging and there is still lack of detailed information. Thereby, the application of advanced fluorescence techniques can expand the portfolio of useful parameters for a more comprehensive evaluation. Here, we encapsulated hydrophilic quantum dots into liposomes for studying cellular uptake of these so-called lipodots into living cells. First, we investigated photophysical properties of free quantum dots and lipodots observing changes in the fluorescence decay time and translational diffusion behaviour. In comparison to empty liposomes, lipodots exhibited an altered zeta potential, whereas their hydrodynamic size did not change. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), both combined with two-photon excitation (2P), were used to investigate the interaction behaviour of lipodots with an insect epithelial tissue. In contrast to the application of free quantum dots, their successful delivery into the cytosol of salivary gland duct cells could be observed when applying lipodots. Lipodots with different lipid compositions and surface charges did not result in considerable differences in the intracellular labelling pattern, luminescence decay time and diffusion behaviour. However, quantum dot degradation after intracellular accumulation could be assumed from reduced luminescence decay times and blue-shifted luminescence signals. In addition to single diffusing quantum dots, possible intracellular clustering of quantum dots could be assumed from increased diffusion times. Thus, by using a simple and manageable liposome carrier system, 2P-FLIM and 2P-FCS recording protocols could be tested, which are promising for investigating the fate of quantum dots during cellular interaction.

Modification of fatty acid vesicle using an imidazolium-based surface active ionic liquid: a detailed study on its modified properties using spectroscopy and microscopy techniques $$^{\S }$$ §

Fatty acid vesicles have attracted views as model protocell membranes in understanding the emergence of life, but their properties can be further modified in the presence of some external molecules. In this work, we have investigated the spontaneous formation of large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) of oleic acid in aqueous medium in presence of a popular imidazolium-based cationic surface active ionic liquid (SAIL) $$[\hbox {C}_{16}\hbox {mim}]\hbox {Cl}$$ and studied the micelle–vesicle transition of aqueous $$[\hbox {C}_{16}\hbox {mim}]\hbox {Cl}$$ solution in presence of different molar fractions (f) of oleic acid. This newly formed oleic $$\hbox {acid}/[\hbox {C}_{16}\hbox {mim}]\hbox {Cl}$$ vesicles exhibit some modified properties compared to the pure fatty acid vesicles. Unlike pure fatty acid vesicles, these vesicles are stable in the pH range of 2 to 11.2. We have observed the fusion process of these oleic acid/SAIL vesicles to form giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) in presence of low concentration of NaCl solution. To investigate the dynamics of different oleic $$\hbox {acid}/[\hbox {C}_{16}\hbox {mim}]\hbox {Cl}$$ self-assemblies, we have used fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). The translational diffusion behavior of three different dyes, Rhodamine 6G, DCM and Pyrromethene 597, which are non-covalently bound to the different regions of the oleic acid/SAIL self-assemblies, have been determined using FCS during the micelle–vesicle transition and upon varying the pH of the vesicular solution. Oleic acid vesicles prepared in presence of a surface active ionic liquid $$[\hbox {C}_{16}\hbox {mim}]\hbox {Cl}$$ have been characterized. Modified properties of these vesicles like stability towards a greater pH range as compared to pure oleic acid vesicles and fusion of vesicles in presence of low concentration of NaCl solution have been studied.

Phosphonium-phosphates/thiophosphates: Ionic liquids or liquid ion pairs? NMR spectroscopic classification

Structurally unique ionic liquids phosphonium-phosphate and phosphonium-thiophosphate, having both phosphorus based counter ions, in which the anionic part is represented by di-aryl phosphate or di-aryl thiophosphate and cations been tetraalkylphosphonium groups, behave differently in terms of their NMR behaviour. While phosphonium-phosphates show significant changes in its 1H, 13C and 31P NMR chemical shifts vis. á vis. corresponding chemical shifts for a physical mixture of tetraalkylphosphonium bromide and di-aryl phosphate, phosphonium-thiophosphates behave almost similarly in terms of NMR with their synthetic precursors, hence indicating phosphate-phosphonium interaction has a significant covalent component resembling more to a liquid ion pair while thiophosphate-phosphonium interaction is principally ionic in nature. Translational diffusion behavior studied by PFGSE-NMR experiments and ionic conductivities of these ionic liquids in chloroform solution corroborated the hypothesis. The effect of variable alkyl chain length in phosphonium cation is effectively observed in the extent of ion association. Results of this study may provide insight into the solution state behavior of these ionic liquids, would help to classify those in terms of their strength of ion association and thus potential application thereof.

Correlating hydrodynamic radii with that of two-dimensional nanoparticles

Dynamic light scattering (DLS) is one of the most adapted methods to measure the size of nanoparticles, as referred to the hydrodynamic radii (Rh). However, the Rh represents only that of three-dimensional spherical nanoparticles. In the present research, the size of two-dimensional (2D) nanoparticles of yttrium oxide (Y2O3) and zirconium phosphate (ZrP) was evaluated through comparing their hydrodynamic diameters via DLS with lateral sizes obtained using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. We demonstrate that the hydrodynamic radii are correlated with the lateral sizes of both square and circle shaped 2D nanoparticles. Two proportional coefficients, i.e., correcting factors, are proposed for the Brownian motion status of 2D nanoparticles. The correction is possible by simplifying the calculation of integrals in the case of small thickness approximation. The correcting factor has great significance for investigating the translational diffusion behavior of 2D nanoparticles in a liquid and in effective and low-cost measurement in terms of size and morphology of shape-specific nanoparticles.

Hydrodynamic and nonhydrodynamic contributions to the bimolecular collision rates of solute molecules in supercooled bulk water.

Bimolecular collision rate constants of a model solute are measured in water at T = 259–303 K, a range encompassing both normal and supercooled water. A stable, spherical nitroxide spin probe, perdeuterated 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-oxopiperidine-1-oxyl, is studied using electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR), taking advantage of the fact that the rotational correlation time, τR, the mean time between successive spin exchanges within a cage, τRE, and the long-time-averaged spin exchange rate constants, Kex, of the same solute molecule may be measured independently. Thus, long- and short-time translational diffusion behavior may be inferred from Kex and τRE, respectively. In order to measure Kex, the effects of dipole–dipole interactions (DD) on the EPR spectra must be separated, yielding as a bonus the DD broadening rate constants that are related to the dephasing rate constant due to DD, Wdd. We find that both Kex and Wdd behave hydrodynamically; that is to say they vary monotonically with T/η or η/T, respectively, where η is the shear viscosity, as predicted by the Stokes–Einstein equation. The same is true of the self-diffusion of water. In contrast, τRE does not follow hydrodynamic behavior, varying rather as a linear function of the density reaching a maximum at 276 ± 2 K near where water displays a maximum density.

Molecule-Centered Method for Accelerating the Calculation of Hydrodynamic Interactions in Brownian Dynamics Simulations Containing Many Flexible Biomolecules

Inclusion of hydrodynamic interactions (HIs) is essential in simulations of biological macromolecules that treat the solvent implicitly if the macromolecules are to exhibit correct translational and rotational diffusion. The present work describes the development and testing of a simple approach aimed at allowing more rapid computation of HIs in coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations of systems that contain large numbers of flexible macromolecules. The method combines a complete treatment of intramolecular HIs with an approximate treatment of the intermolecular HIs which assumes that the molecules are effectively spherical; all of the HIs are calculated at the Rotne-Prager-Yamakawa level of theory. When combined with Fixman's Chebyshev polynomial method for calculating correlated random displacements, the proposed method provides an approach that is simple to program but sufficiently fast that it makes it computationally viable to include HIs in large-scale simulations. Test calculations performed on very coarse-grained models of the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) E2 complex and on oligomers of ParM (ranging in size from 1 to 20 monomers) indicate that the method reproduces the translational diffusion behavior seen in more complete HI simulations surprisingly well; the method performs less well at capturing rotational diffusion but its discrepancies diminish with increasing size of the simulated assembly. Simulations of residue-level models of two tetrameric protein models demonstrate that the method also works well when more structurally detailed models are used in the simulations. Finally, test simulations of systems containing up to 1024 coarse-grained PDH molecules indicate that the proposed method rapidly becomes more efficient than the conventional BD approach in which correlated random displacements are obtained via a Cholesky decomposition of the complete diffusion tensor.

The effect of different polymer length on water droplets of reverse AOT microemulsion

We study the effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the dynamic and structure of water droplets at the reverse sodium bis-(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) microemulsion. The mixture of water and oil with anionic surfactant AOT can form microemulsion. The dynamic of microemulsion in the presence of PEG is investigated by photon correlation spectroscopy technique. We mainly focus on the variation of the translational diffusion behaviour as a function of the polymer concentration and polymer length scale. By increasing the content of the lowest PEG length scale (Mn = 285), the dynamic of microemulsion slows down. In addition, one relaxation process is distinguished for all polymer concentration. However, for the two higher polymer length scale (Mn = 2200 and 6000), two relaxations are observed and the dynamic of microemulsion speeds up. We used the small angle X-ray scattering technique to monitor the size and the polydispersity of the mixture system (AOT microemulsion/PEG).

Probing Orientational Order of MHC Class I Protein and Lipids in Cell Membranes by Fluorescence Polarization-Resolved Microscopy Imaging

Biomolecular orientational organization of lipids and proteins in plasma membrane is a crucial factor in biological processes where functions can be closely related to orientation and ordering mechanisms. The concept of transient nanosized phase separations in ordered and disordered domains, called “lipid rafts” is now widely accepted. Furthermore, the ordered domains are enriched in signalling proteins, which highlights the crucial impact of phase separation during the signalling processes. While this field has been so far largely addressed by studying the translational diffusion behaviour of membrane proteins by Single Molecule Tracking or Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy, only little is known about the orientational behaviour of signalling proteins in plasma membranes, mainly due to the lack of appropriate rigid fluorescent label which would be able to act as a proper orientation reporter. In this work we develop a fully polarization-resolved fluorescence imaging technique using a tuneable incident polarization state (“fluorescence polarimetry”), in combination with fluorescence anisotropy imaging, in order to provide orientational order information in very general cell membranes shapes.We apply this technique to the measurement of quantitative orientational distribution of MHC Class I proteins in the plasma and nuclear membranes, benefiting from a rigidly attached GFP probe. The surrounding lipid orientational order in the plasma membrane is additionally probed using the fluorescent reporter di-8-ANEPPQ.The MHC Class I protein is found to be more ordered in the plasma membrane as compared to the nuclear membrane. Both MHC I and di-8-ANEPPQ orientational orders in the plasma membrane are furthermore seen to be highly affected by actin depolymerisation upon Latrunculin A treatment, with variations that indicate both a structural change in the membrane morphology and a disruption of MHC I - actin interactions.

Diffusional and orientational dynamics of various single terylene diimide conjugates in mesoporous materials

Mesoporous silica materials are ideally suited as host–guest systems in nanoscience with applications ranging from molecular sieves, catalysts, nanosensors to drug-delivery-systems. For all these applications a thorough understanding of the interactions between the mesoporous host system and the guest molecules is vital. Here, we investigate these interactions using single molecule spectroscopy (SMS) to study the dynamics of three different terylene diimide (TDI) dyes acting as molecular probes in hexagonal and lamellar mesoporous silica films. The diffusion behaviour in the hexagonal phase is represented by the trajectories of the single molecules. These trajectories are highly structured and thus provide information about the underlying host structure, such as domain size or the presence of defects inside the host structure. The three structurally different TDI derivatives allowed studying the influence of the molecular structure of the guest on the translational diffusion behaviour in the hexagonal phase and the lamellar phase. In the lamellar phase, the differences between the three guests are quite dramatic. First, two populations of diffusing molecules – one with parallel orientation of the molecules to the lamellae and the other with perpendicular orientation – could be observed for two of the TDI derivatives. These populations differ drastically in their translational diffusion behaviour. Depending on the TDI derivative, the ratio between the two populations is different. Additionally, switching between the two populations was observed. These data provide new insights into host–guest interactions like the influence of the molecular structure of the guest molecules on their diffusional as well as on their orientational behaviour in structurally confined guest systems.

Comparison of Liposomes Formed by Sonication and Extrusion: Rotational and Translational Diffusion of an Embedded Chromophore

We report on the physical and optical characterization of liposomes formed by extrusion and sonication, two widely used methods for vesicle preparation. We also address the issue of whether the properties of bilayers formed from liposomes prepared by the two techniques differ at the molecular and mesoscopic levels. We used the phospholipid 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), with and without cholesterol, to form liposomes, incorporating 1-oleoyl-2-[12-[(7-nitro-2-1,3-benzoxadiazol-4-yl)amino]dodecanoyl]-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (18:1-12:0 NBD-PC) as an optical probe of dynamics. We measured the physical morphology of liposomes by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), and the rotational and translational diffusion of 18:1-12:0 NBD-PC by time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) and fluorescence recovery after pattern photobleaching (FRAPP), respectively. We find that, despite apparent differences in average size and size distribution, both methods of preparation produced liposomes that exhibit the same molecular scale environment. The translational diffusion behavior of the tethered chromophore in planar bilayer lipid membranes formed from the two types of liposomes also yielded similar results.

Translational diffusion coefficient of cycloamylose in aqueous sodium hydroxide.

Seven cyclic (1 --> 4)-alpha-D-glucan (cycloamylose) samples ranging in weight-average molecular weight from 5 x 10(3) to 1.8 x 10(4) and gamma-cyclodextrin have been studied by sedimentation equilibrium in dimethylsulfoxide (at 25 degrees C) and by dynamic light scattering in 0.5 N aqueous sodium hydroxide (at 25 degrees C), a good solvent for linear amylose. The measured translational diffusion coefficients D in the aqueous NaOH agree fairly closely with previous Monte Carlo results for cyclic (1 --> 4)-alpha-D-glucan chains with excluded volume, when correction is made for the effects of bead diameter and fluctuating hydrodynamic interaction (HI) on the Kirkwood theory on which the computation of D was based. These D data are also explained almost quantitatively by Yamakawa and Fujii's expression for the associated KP ring (based on the Kratky-Porod wormlike chain) with the molecular parameters for linear amylose if the fluctuating HI and excluded-volume effects are taken into account. It is concluded that the translational diffusion behavior of cycloamylose in the aqueous NaOH is consistent with the conformational characteristics derived from the conformational energy of maltose and dilute-solution data for linear amylose.

Translational diffusion of 12-arm star polystyrenes in dilute and concentrated poly(vinyl methyl ether) solutions

The technique of dynamic light scattering from isorefractive ternary solutions has been used to study the translational diffusion behaviour of 12-arm star polystyrenes (PS) in dilute and concentrated solutions of poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME). PS molecular weights ranged from 5.5 × 10 4 to 1.69 × 10 6. The PVME molecular weight was 1.4 × 10 5, and the PVME concentration was varied from 0.001 to 0.30 g ml −1. The concentration dependence of diffusion is well described by the functional form D D 0 = exp(−ac u) , although there is some evidence that the star dimensions decrease with increasing PVME concentration. Comparison with the diffusion behaviour of linear PS in PVME solutions suggests that, for these molecular weights of PS and PVME, the diffusant topology is not important, and thus reptation is not a significant mechanism under these conditions. At the same time, neither the Stokes-Einstein relation nor a simple scaling function, f( R ξ ) , can describe the observed behaviour. These results are interpreted as reflecting substantial PVME mobility, relative to the PS stars.