Scientists from Durham University's Chemistry Department have developed the
world's first laser scanning confocal microscope that can harness Circularly
Polarized Light (CPL) to differentiate left and right-handed molecules, also
known as chiral molecules.
The microscope, known as CPL Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (CPL-LSCM),
is the first of its kind that can detect and track luminescent chiral
molecules in cells and has extensive potential to be used by the imaging and
biomedical research community globally.
CPL Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope can track emissive chiral molecules
within live cells and distinguish left-handed molecules from right-handed
molecules that can emit bright light, which was not possible before.
Luminescent chiral molecules encode a unique optical fingerprint when
emitting Circularly Polarized Light that contains information about the
molecular environment, conformation, and binding state. For the first time
ever, this information along with previously uncharted parts of biology and
chemistry can be accessed and analyzed using the novel
microscope.
The researchers also demonstrated that CPL-active probes can be activated
using biologically favored low energy two-photon excitation that allows
imaging of living tissues up to one millimeter in thickness, with complete
CPL spectrum recovery.
Tracking of chiral molecules within live cells permits researchers to study
the fundamental interactions between cell, organelles, drugs or introduced
chiral molecular probes. This can be a great leap forward in many aspects of
chemistry, biology and material science.
Full result of the study has been published in the journal Nature
Communications.
Dr. Robert Pal, lead researcher of the study, said that "this is a
significant milestone both in optical microscopy and circularly polarized
luminescence research, and we hope that it will be adapted and used by many
researchers world-wide to venture into the uncharted and study fundamental
biological processes in a new 'chiral' light."
The CPL Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope can simultaneously measure left
and right-handed CPL, signifying a step forward in technological capability
that opens up new opportunities to study chiral molecular interactions.
Reference:
Patrycja Stachelek et al, Circularly polarised luminescence laser scanning
confocal microscopy to study live cell chiral molecular interactions, Nature
Communications (2022).
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28220-z
Tags:
Physics