A bottom-up approach to build the hyperpolarizability of peptides and proteins from their amino acids

Importance of Solvent-Bridged Structures of Fluorinated Diphenylalanines: Synthesis, Detailed NMR Analysis, and Rotational Profiles of Phe(2-F)-Phe(2-F), Phe(2-F)-Phe, and Phe-Phe(2-F)

The crystal structure of l-phenylalanyl l-phenylalanine (Phe-Phe, FF, a.k.a. diphenylalanine) is not merely noncentrosymmetric, but it is highly dipole parallel aligned. It is for this reason that FF is a nonlinear optical (NLO) material and exhibits strong second harmonic generation (SHG). Enhancement of the SHG response by ortho fluorination was demonstrated. Crystallization is nontrivial, and learning about the zwitterion structures in solution is important for the rational improvement of the crystallization process. Here, we present an NMR study of di-fluorinated FF (Phe(2-F)-Phe(2-F)) and mono-fluorinated FF isomers (Phe(2-F)-Phe and Phe-Phe(2-F)). The dipeptides were prepared by solid-phase synthesis and purified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Their ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra were recorded in partially deuterated water (10% D₂O), and two-dimensional (2D) NMR techniques were employed for signal assignments. The unambiguous assignments are reported of all chemical shifts for the aliphatic H and C atoms and of the C atoms of the carboxylate, the amide carbonyl, the CF carbons, and of every arene C atom in each phenyl ring. The dipeptides are trans amides and intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the ammonium group and the amide carbonyl restricts the H₃N-CH-C(O) geometry. We explored the rotational profile of the diphenylalanines as a function of the τ = ∠(C-N-C-CO₂) dihedral angle at the SMD(B3LYP/6-31G*) level without and with specific hydration and report the associated Karplus curves J(θ) vs θ = ∠(H-N-C-H). The rotational profiles show a maximum of three stationary structures, and relative conformer stabilities of the free diphenylalanines show that the conformation found in the crystal M1 is the least stable among the three, M3 > M2 ≫ M1. Specific water solvation makes all of the difference and adds a large competitive advantage to the water-bridged ion pair M1a. In fact, M1a becomes the most stable and dominant conformation for the parent diphenylalanine and mono1 F-FF and M1a becomes competitive with M3c for mono2 F-FF and di F-FF. Implications are discussed regarding the importance of the conformational preorganization of diphenylalanines in solution and the facility for their crystallization.

Hyper-Rayleigh scattering of adenine, thymine, and cytosine in neat water

The first hyperpolarizabilities of the DNA bases thymine and cytosine were determined by hyper-Rayleigh scattering in neat water despite their low solubility. Due to the low intensity levels collected, count statistics were performed instead of the standard dilution procedure. The first hyperpolarizabilities were found to be β_Thymine = (2.99 ± 0.44) × 10^-30 esu for thymine and β_Cytosine = (3.35 ± 0.21) × 10^-30 esu for cytosine. Due to its weak solubility, only an upper limit β_Adenine < (1.82 ± 0.10) × 10^-30 esu could be set for adenine. The first hyperpolarizability of guanine could not be measured because of its very weak solubility. Theoretical static and 800 nm dynamic first hyperpolarizability tensor elements were also computed with Gaussian 09 for comparison.

Self-assembling amyloid-like peptides as exogenous second harmonic probes for bioimaging applications

Amyloid-like peptides are an ideal model for the mechanistic study of amyloidosis, which may lead to many human diseases, such as Alzheimer disease. This study reports a strong second harmonic generation (SHG) effect of amyloid-like peptides, having a signal equivalent to or even higher than those of endogenous collagen fibers. Several amyloid-like peptides (both synthetic and natural) were examined under SHG microscopy and shown they are SHG-active. These peptides can also be observed inside cells (in vitro). This interesting property can make these amyloid-like peptides second harmonic probes for bioimaging applications. Furthermore, SHG microscopy can provide a simple and label-free approach to detect amyloidosis. Lattice corneal dystrophy was chosen as a model disease of amyloidosis. Morphological difference between normal and diseased human corneal biopsy samples can be easily recognized, proving that SHG can be a useful tool for disease diagnosis.

Harmonic Generation Microscopy 2.0: New Tricks Empowering Intravital Imaging for Neuroscience

Optical harmonic generation, e.g., second- (SHG) and third-harmonic generation (THG), provides intrinsic contrasts for three-dimensional intravital microscopy. Contrary to two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF), however, they have found relatively specialized applications, such as imaging collagenous and non-specific tissues, respectively. Here we review recent advances that broaden the capacity of SHG and THG for imaging the central nervous system in particular. The fundamental contrast mechanisms are reviewed as they encode novel information including molecular origin, spectroscopy, functional probes, and image analysis, which lay foundations for promising future applications in neuroscience.

Analyzing the feasibility of discriminating between collagen types I and II using polarization-resolved second harmonic generation

According to previous studies, the nonlinear susceptibility tensor ratio χ₃₃ /χ₃₁ obtained from polarization-resolved second harmonic generation (P-SHG) under the assumption of cylindrical symmetry can be used to distinguish between fibrillar collagen types. Discriminating between collagen fibrils of types I and II is important in tissue engineering of cartilage. However, cartilage has a random organization of collagen fibrils, and the assumption of cylindrical symmetry may be incorrect. In this study, we simulated the P-SHG response from different collagen organizations and demonstrated a possible method to exclude areas where cylindrical symmetry is not fulfilled and where fibrils are located in the imaging plane. The χ₃₃ /χ₃₁ -ratio for collagen type I in tendon and collagen type II in cartilage was estimated to be 1.33 and 1.36, respectively, using this method. These ratios are now much closer than what has been reported previously in the literature, and the larger reported differences between collagen types can be explained by variation in the structural organization.

Correlative nonlinear optical microscopy and infrared nanoscopy reveals collagen degradation in altered parchments

This paper presents the correlative imaging of collagen denaturation by nonlinear optical microscopy (NLO) and nanoscale infrared (IR) spectroscopy to obtain morphological and chemical information at different length scales. Such multiscale correlated measurements are applied to the investigation of ancient parchments, which are mainly composed of dermal fibrillar collagen. The main issue is to characterize gelatinization, the ultimate and irreversible alteration corresponding to collagen denaturation to gelatin, which may also occur in biological tissues. Key information about collagen and gelatin signatures is obtained in parchments and assessed by characterizing the denaturation of pure collagen reference samples. A new absorbing band is observed near the amide I band in the IR spectra, correlated to the onset of fluorescence signals in NLO images. Meanwhile, a strong decrease is observed in Second Harmonic signals, which are a structural probe of the fibrillar organization of the collagen at the micrometer scale. NLO microscopy therefore appears as a powerful tool to reveal collagen degradation in a non-invasive way. It should provide a relevant method to assess or monitor the condition of collagen-based materials in museum and archival collections and opens avenues for a broad range of applications regarding this widespread biological material.

Non-linear optical properties of gold quantum clusters. The smaller the better

By developing a new method for synthesizing atomically monodisperse Au15 nanoclusters stabilized with glutathione molecules and using the current state-of-the-art methods for synthesizing monodisperse protected Au25 nanoclusters, we investigated their nonlinear optical (NLO) properties after two-photon absorption. The two-photon emission spectra and the first hyperpolarizabilities of these particles were obtained using, in particular, a hyper-Rayleigh scattering technique. The influence on NLO of the excitation wavelength, the size as well as the nature of the ligands is also explored and discussed. Au15, the smallest stable thiolated gold nanocluster, presents remarkable nonlinear properties with respect to two-photon processes. The two-photon absorption cross-section at 780 nm for Au15 is ∼65,700 GM. This experimental cross-section value points to a quantum yield for two-photon emission of about 3 × 10(-7) at 475 nm for Au15. The first hyperpolarizability β for Au15 clusters (509 × 10(-30) esu), as compared to Au25 clusters (128 × 10(-30) esu), is larger considering the difference in the number of gold atoms. Also, 10(30) β per atom values reported for Au15 and Au25 clusters are more than two orders of magnitude larger than the values reported for Au NPs in the size range 10-50 nm, outlining the quantum cluster regime.

Fibrillogenesis from nanosurfaces: multiphoton imaging and stereological analysis of collagen 3D self-assembly dynamics

The assembly of proteins into fibrillar structures is an important process that concerns different biological contexts, including molecular medicine and functional biomaterials. Engineering of hybrid biomaterials can advantageously provide synergetic interactions of the biopolymers with an inorganic component to ensure specific supramolecular organization and dynamics. To this aim, we designed hybrid systems associating collagen and surface-functionalized silica particles and we built a new strategy to investigate fibrillogenesis processes in such multicomponents systems, working at the crossroads of chemistry, physics and mathematics. The self-assembly process was investigated by bimodal multiphoton imaging coupling second harmonic generation (SHG) and 2 photon excited fluorescence (2PEF). The in-depth spatial characterization of the system was further achieved using the three-dimensional analysis of the SHG/2PEF data via mathematical morphology processing. Quantitation of collagen distribution around particles offers strong evidence that the chemically induced confinement of the protein on the silica nanosurfaces has a key influence on the spatial extension of fibrillogenesis. This new approach is unique in the information it can provide on 3D dynamic hybrid systems and may be extended to other associations of fibrillar molecules with optically responsive nano-objects.

Determination of collagen fibril size via absolute measurements of second-harmonic generation signals

The quantification of collagen fibril size is a major issue for the investigation of pathological disorders associated with structural defects of the extracellular matrix. Second-harmonic generation microscopy is a powerful technique to characterize the macromolecular organization of collagen in unstained biological tissues. Nevertheless, due to the complex coherent building of this nonlinear optical signal, it has never been used to measure fibril diameter so far. Here we report absolute measurements of second-harmonic signals from isolated fibrils down to 30 nm diameter, via implementation of correlative second-harmonic-electron microscopy. Moreover, using analytical and numerical calculations, we demonstrate that the high sensitivity of this technique originates from the parallel alignment of collagen triple helices within fibrils and the subsequent constructive interferences of second-harmonic radiations. Finally, we use these absolute measurements as a calibration for ex vivo quantification of fibril diameter in the Descemet's membrane of a diabetic rat cornea.

Second harmonic generation from tryptophan-rich short peptides: W(n)K(m) and gramicidin A

We report the first hyperpolarizability of a series of tryptophan-rich short peptides with the respective sequence KWK, KWWK, KWWWK, KWWKWWK, where W and K stand for tryptophan and lysine. The measurements were performed with the technique of hyper-Rayleigh scattering in the bulk of an aqueous Tris buffer solution at a pH of 8.5 and a salt concentration of 150 mM at the non-resonant fundamental wavelength of 784 nm. The first hyperpolarizability of the different peptides follows a simple additive model scaling with the number of tryptophan residues contained in the peptide. However, it appears that the first hyperpolarizability response of a single tryptophan residue in the peptide strongly differs from that of an isolated tryptophan. Hence, it is therefore demonstrated that the local environment of the tryptophan residues within the peptide strongly influences its nonlinear optical response. A comparison with the first hyperpolarizability of the natural peptide gramicidin A measured in trifluoroethanol (TFE) further confirms the key role of the local environment on the first hyperpolarizability of tryptophan residues in peptides.