Issue 1, 2018

Spectromicroscopic observation of a live single cell in a biocompatible liquid-enclosing graphene system

Abstract

On-the-spot visualization of biochemical responses of intact live cells is vital for a clear understanding of cell biology. The main obstacles for instant visualization of biochemical responses of living cells arise from the lack of a sophisticated detecting technique which can simultaneously provide chemical analysis tools and the biocompatible wet conditions. Here we introduce scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) combined with a liquid-enclosing graphene system (LGS), offering biocompatible conditions and improved X-ray absorption spectra to probe the chemical responses of live cells under wet conditions. This set-up enables us to probe a subtle change in absorption spectra depending on the oxidation state of a miniscule amount of oxygen in the functional groups present in each cell and its surroundings containing a minimal amount of liquid water. As an example of in situ biochemical responses of wet cells, chemical responses of a single Colo 205 cell are visualized and analyzed using X-ray absorption near the oxygen K-edge. This spectromicroscopic method using LGS can be applied to diverse biological samples under wet conditions for the analysis of their biochemical responses.

Graphical abstract: Spectromicroscopic observation of a live single cell in a biocompatible liquid-enclosing graphene system

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jul 2017
Accepted
16 Oct 2017
First published
17 Oct 2017

Nanoscale, 2018,10, 150-157

Spectromicroscopic observation of a live single cell in a biocompatible liquid-enclosing graphene system

S. U. Yu, H. Lee, W. J. Cho, C. Kim, M. C. Kang, H. Shin, N. Kim, S. K. Hahn and K. S. Kim, Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 150 DOI: 10.1039/C7NR05223E

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