Abstract
We developed membrane voltage nanosensors that are based on inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles. We provide here a feasibility study for their utilization. We use a rationally designed peptide to functionalize the nanosensors, imparting them with the ability to self-insert into a lipid membrane with a desired orientation. Once inserted, these nanosensors could sense membrane potential via the quantum confined Stark effect, with a single-particle sensitivity. With further improvements, these nanosensors could potentially be used for simultaneous recording of action potentials from multiple neurons in a large field of view over a long duration and for recording electrical signals on the nanoscale, such as across one synapse.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e1601453 |
| Journal | Science advances |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:Copyright © 2018 The Authors.
Funding
We acknowledge the help of A. Cohen for providing the self-spiking HEK cell line and for providing access to the laboratory and the patch-clamp fluorescence setup. Funding: We also acknowledge the use of instruments at the Electron Imaging Center for NanoMachines supported by the NIH (1S10RR23057 and GM071940 to Z.H.Z.) and the Advanced Light Microscopy/Spectroscopy core, both at the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. We also acknowledge the participation in the USER Program (#1726 and #3244) of the Molecular Foundry at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. S.W. acknowledges the funding from the United States–Israel Binational Science Foundation (#2010382), the Human Frontier Science Program (#RGP0061/2015), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/ Biological Technologies Office (award no. D14PC00141). This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research program under award no. DE-FC02-02ER63421. A.J.L. acknowledges partial support from NSF-DMR-1309188. S.W. and Z.H.Z. acknowledge partial support from the NSF (DMR-1548924).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health | 1S10RR23057 |
| National Institute of General Medical Sciences | R01GM071940 |
| Human Frontier Science Program | #RGP0061/2015, D14PC00141 |
| University of California | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | DE-AC02-05CH11231 |
| Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory | |
| National Stroke Foundation | DMR-1548924 |
| United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation | #2010382 |