Brillouin microscopy

Kabakova, Irina; Zhang, Jitao; Xiang, Yuchen; Caponi, Silvia; Bilenca, Alberto; Guck, Jochen; Scarcelli, Giuliano

doi:10.1038/s43586-023-00286-z

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 201 publications

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“…While the application of Brillouin microscopy for biophysical research is a relatively recent development [18, 20], the investigation of viscoelasticity with sound waves has a long history. Ultrasonic investigations were used broadly in material science and polymer physics, as well as to study phase separation [21, 22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical characterization of molecular interaction strength in protein condensates

Beck,

van der Linden,

Borcherds

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Biomolecular condensates have recently been identified as a ubiquitous means of intracellular organization. Investigating the molecular interactions determining the formation, and physical properties of biomolecular condensates provides key insights for understanding their biological function, and dysfunction. Here, we applied Brillouin microscopy and quantitative phase imaging to quantify average molecular interaction strength, dry mass density, and protein volume fraction in protein condensates in vitro. We monitored the physical changes in FUS condensates in response to altering temperature and ion concentration. Conditions favoring phase separation increased Brillouin shift, linewidth, and dry mass density. In contrast to solidification by chemical crosslinking, physical aging of condensates had only a small impact on the Brillouin shift. Physical aging was suppressed at a high ion concentration. Finally, we characterized sequence variations of the low-complexity domain of hnRNPA1 that change the driving force for phase separation and found that they also alter the physical properties of the condensates. Our results provide a new experimental perspective on the physical properties of protein condensates and their sensitivity to solution conditions, sequence, and as a function of time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical characterization of molecular interaction strength in protein condensates

Beck,

van der Linden,

Borcherds

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…To adequately capture their mechanical properties across various scales, a combination of techniques is often required. In recent years, Brillouin light scattering (BLS) has emerged as a powerful tool for viscoelastic characterization at the microscale, offering a non-destructive and non-contact approach to probe the mechanical behavior of biological materials at a microscopic level [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Advances in BLS technology have led to significant improvements in the speed of data acquisition, enabling rapid Brillouin spectral imaging [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brillouin scattering from biomedical samples: the challenge of heterogeneity

Cardinali,

Caponi,

Mattarelli

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Photonics

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Brillouin light scattering (BLS), a non-destructive and non-contact technique, offers a powerful tool for probing the micromechanical properties of biological tissues. However, the inherent heterogeneity of biological tissues can pose significant challenges in interpretingBLS spectra. In this study, we introduce a novel method that harnesses the intensity information within a single BLS spectrum to directly estimate the Voigt average of the longitudinal modulus. Additionally, we use a method to determine the ratio of the squaredPockels coefficients for photoelastically heterogeneous samples, based on global analysis of a2D BLS map. This method is shown to effectively determine the photoelastic ratio of soft and hard components of human bone tissues, enabling the calculation of the average elastic constants. Furthermore, it has the remarkable ability to generate maps of the filling factor of the scattering volume, shedding valuable light on the intricate structure and topography of rough surfaces under BLS mapping.

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“…Brillouin microscopy is a valuable method for quantitatively assessing the mechanical characteristics of materials. It is a non-invasive, label-free, and high-resolution mechanical imaging technique with minimal interference and can be used to measure mechanical anisotropy [23][24][25][26]. Nevertheless, its application in microscope has been limited until recently owing to its weak signals [27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring cis-to-trans isomerization of azobenzene using Brillouin microscopy

Wang,

Jiang,

Barwig

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Photonics

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Brillouin spectroscopy is commonly used to study the acoustic properties of materials. Here we explored its feasibility in studying the photoinduced isomerization of azobenzene. The isomerization of azobenzene changes the solution elastic modulus, and Brillouin scattering is sensitive to these changes. In this study, we experimentally demonstrated the photoswitching of azobenzene in DMSO using our home-made VIPA-based high-resolution optical Brillouin spectrometer, and confirmed the results by ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry. Remarkable Brillouin frequency shift variations were quantitatively recorded upon irradiation, and it was found that this method can indeed be used to monitor the isomerization process in situ. Importantly, our strategy also allows us to provide the relationship between the ratio of trans- and cis- azobenzene and the Brillouin frequency shift. This shows that Brillouin spectroscopy has broad prospects for the characterization of azobenzene isomerization and other photo responsive materials.

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Brillouin microscopy

Cited by 11 publications

References 201 publications

Optical characterization of molecular interaction strength in protein condensates

Optical characterization of molecular interaction strength in protein condensates

Brillouin scattering from biomedical samples: the challenge of heterogeneity

Monitoring cis-to-trans isomerization of azobenzene using Brillouin microscopy

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