title: Direct imaging of aligned neurofilament networks assembled using in situ dialysis in microchannels.
abstract: We report a technique to produce aligned neurofilament networks for direct imaging and diffraction studies using in situ dialysis in a microfluidic device. The alignment is achieved by assembling neurofilaments from protein subunits confined within microchannels. Resulting network structure was probed by polarized optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy, which confirmed a high degree of protein alignment inside the microchannels. This technique can be expanded to facilitate structural studies of a wide range of filamentous proteins and their hierarchical assemblies under varying assembly conditions.
authors.affiliation: Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hesse
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deek
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Safinya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003956:Dialysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D008832:Microchemistry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry*