title: Nonlinear optical measurement of membrane potential around single molecules at selected cellular sites.
abstract: Membrane potential around single molecules has been measured by using the nonlinear optical phenomenon of second harmonic generation. This advance results from the interaction between a highly dipolar molecule with a selectively directed highly polarizable 1-nm gold particle. With this approach, a second harmonic signal, which is enhanced by the nanoparticle, is detected from a volume of nanometric dimensions. This present work clearly shows that functional cellular imaging around single molecules is possible by selectively directing an antibody with a 1-nm gold label to a specific membrane protein. The results of this work open the way for three-dimensional, high resolution functional imaging of membrane electrophysiology in cells and cellular networks.
authors.affiliation: Division of Applied Physics, Center for Neural Computation, Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah Laser Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peleg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linial
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Loew
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000737:chemistry; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology*; D004396:Coloring Agents; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D004396:Coloring Agents