Amyloid fibrils and amorphous aggregates are two types of aberrant aggregates associated with protein misfolding diseases. Although they differ in morphology, the two forms are often treated indiscriminately. β 2 -microglobulin (β2m), a protein responsible for dialysis-related amyloidosis, forms amyloid fibrils or amorphous aggregates depending on the NaCl concentration at pH 2.5. We compared the kinetics of their formation, which was monitored by measuring thioflavin T fluorescence, light scattering, and 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate fluorescence. Thioflavin T fluorescence specifically monitors amyloid fibrillation, whereas light scattering and 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate fluorescence monitor both amyloid fibrillation and amorphous aggregation. The amyloid fibrils formed via a nucleation-dependent mechanism in a supersaturated solution, analogous to crystallization. The lag phase of fibrillation was reduced upon agitation with stirring or ultrasonic irradiation, and disappeared by seeding with preformed fibrils. In contrast, the glass-like amorphous aggregates formed rapidly without a lag phase. Neither agitation nor seeding accelerated the amorphous aggregation. Thus, by monitoring the kinetics, we can distinguish between crystal-like amyloid fibrils and glass-like amorphous aggregates. Solubility and supersaturation will be key factors for further understanding the aberrant aggregation of proteins.protein aggregation | metastability | glass transition | ultrasonication

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This study is devoted to deducing exact elastic constants of an anisotropic solid material without using any advance information on the elastic constants by incorporating a displacement-distribution measurement into resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS). The usual RUS method measures free-vibration resonance frequencies of a solid and compares them with calculations to find the most suitable set of elastic constants by an inverse calculation. This comparison requires mode identification for the measured resonance frequencies, which has been difficult and never been free from ambiguity. This study then adopts a laser-Doppler interferometer to measure the displacement-distribution patterns on a surface of the vibrating specimen mounted on pinducers; comparison of the measured displacement distributions with those computed permits us to correctly identify the measured resonance frequencies, leading to unmistakable determination of elastic constants. Because the displacement patterns are hardly affected by the elastic constants, an exact answer is surely obtained even when unreasonable elastic constants are used as initial guesses at the beginning of the inverse calculation. The usefulness of the present technique is demonstrated with an aluminum alloy and a langasite crystal.

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The binding affinity between human immunoglobulin G (IgG) and protein A was studied by the homebuilt wireless-electrodeless quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Protein A was immobilized on the electrodeless AT-cut quartz plate of 0.05 mm thick and its fundamental resonance frequency near 34 MHz was measured by a noncontacting manner using a line antenna. The vibrational analysis was performed to ensure higher sensitivity of the electrodeless QCM. A flow-cell system was fabricated to continuously measure the resonance frequency during the injection sequence of the IgG solutions with concentrations of 1-20,000 ng/mL. The exponential frequency changes were recorded to determine the affinity based on the Langmuir kinetics. The equilibrium constant K(A) significantly varied between 6 x 10(6) and 6 x 10(10) M(-1), depending on the IgG concentration, which is attributed to various formations of IgG-protein A complexes.

Resonances of coherent acoustic phonons were excited and detected by femtosecond light pulses for determining the normal elastic constant of ultrathin platinum films. The elastic constant increases with the decrease of the film thickness, exceeds the bulk value at the thickness near 5 nm, and significantly increases at low temperatures. It shows a correlation with the normal lattice distance. Thus, this Letter provides evidence of the stiffness enhancement in ultrathin films caused by lattice anharmonicity.

We develop a highly sensitive quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) biosensor with a fundamental resonance frequency of 170 MHz. A naked AT-cut quartz plate of 9.7 microm thick is set in a sensor cell. Its shear vibration is excited by the line wire, and the vibration signals are detected by the other line wire, achieving the noncontacting measurement of the resonance frequency. The mass sensitivity of the 170 MHz QCM biosensor is 15 pg/(cm2 Hz), which is better than that of a conventional 5 MHz QCM by 3 orders of magnitude. Its high sensitivity is confirmed by detecting human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) via Staphylococcus protein A immobilized nonspecifically on both surfaces of the quartz plate. The detection limit is 0.5 pM. Limitation of the high-frequency QCM measurement is then theoretically discussed with a continuum mechanics model for a plate with point masses connected by elastic springs. The result indicates that a QCM measurement will break down at frequencies one-order-of-magnitude higher than the local resonance frequency at specific binding cites.