Search

The development of laser traps has made it possible to investigate single cells and record real-time Raman spectra during a heat-denaturation process when the temperature of the surrounding medium is increased. Large changes in the phenylalanine band (1004 cm−1) of near-infrared spectra between living and heat-treated cells were observed in yeast and Escerichia coli and Enterobacter aerogenes bacteria. This change appears to reflect the change in environment of phenylalanine as proteins within the cells unfold as a result of increasing temperatures. As a comparison, we measured Raman spectra of native and heat-denatured solutions of bovine serum albumin proteins, and a similar change in the phenylalanine band of spectra was observed. In addition, we measured Raman spectra of native and heat-treated solutions of pure phenylalanine molecules; no observable difference in vibrational spectra was observed. These findings may make it possible to study conformational changes in proteins within single cells.

We report on the study of single biological cells with a confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy system that uses optical trapping and shifted excitation Raman difference technique. A tunable diode laser was used to capture a living cell in solution, confine it in the confocal excitation volume, and then excite the Raman scattering. The optical trapping allows us to lift the cell well off the cover plate so that the fluorescence interference from the plate can be effectively reduced. In order to further remove the interference of the fluorescence and stray light from the trapped cell, we employed a shifted excitation Raman difference technique with slightly tuned laser frequencies. With this system, high-quality Raman spectra were obtained from single optically trapped biological cells including E. coli bacteria, yeast cells, and red blood cells. A significant difference between control and heat-treated E. coli B cells was observed due to the denaturation of biomolecules.

We measured the Raman spectra of single optically trapped highly refractive and nontransparent microscopic particles suspended in a liquid using an inverted confocal laser-tweezers-Raman-spectroscopy system. A low-power diode-laser beam of TEM00 mode was used both for optical trapping and Raman excitation of refractive, absorptive, and reflective metal particles. To form a stable trap for a nontransparent particle, the beam focus was located near the top of the particle and the particle was pushed against a glass plate by the axial repulsive force. Raman spectra from single micron-sized crystals with high index of refraction including silicon, germanium, and KNbO3, and from absorptive particles of black and color paints were recorded. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering of R6G and phenylalanine molecules absorbed on the surface of a trapped cluster of silver particles was also demonstrated.

High-density samples of fluorescent quantum dots (QDs) were imaged using an apertureless near-field optical microscopy technique. QD fluorescence was modulated by oscillating a silicon atomic force microscope tip above an illuminated sample and a lock-in amplifier was used to suppress background from the excitation laser. Spatial resolution near 10nm and a peak signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ∼60 were achieved. Individual QDs within high-density ensembles were still easily resolved (SNR>5) at a density of 14QDs∕μm2. These results have favorable implications for the eventual nanoscale imaging of viable biological systems, such as cellular membranes.