Glucose Suppresses Biological Ferroelectricity in Aortic Elastin

Liu, Yuanming; Wang, Yunjie; Chow, Ming Jay; Chen, Nataly Q.; Ma, Feiyue; Zhang, Yanhang; Li, Jiangyu

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.110.168101

Cited by 59 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In a subsequent study, PFM and SS-PFM have been used to attribute the piezo-and ferroelectric behaviour of aorta to elastin fibrils. 302 The authors also discovered that the ferroelectric nature of elastin is suppressed partially, or in some cases completely, by the presence of glucose. 302 These results indicate that ferroelectricity, or lack thereof, could be coupled to glycation of elastin, which is connected to aging 303 and several diseases such as diabetic macroangiopathy.…”

Section: Ferroelectric Phenomena In Organic and Biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…302 The authors also discovered that the ferroelectric nature of elastin is suppressed partially, or in some cases completely, by the presence of glucose. 302 These results indicate that ferroelectricity, or lack thereof, could be coupled to glycation of elastin, which is connected to aging 303 and several diseases such as diabetic macroangiopathy. 304 Similar results using SS-PFM were demonstrated in crystalline γ-glycine 298 and seashells; 297 however, the origin and biofunctional role of ferroelectric-like behaviour in biomaterials remain topics of discussion (see Sect.…”

Section: Ferroelectric Phenomena In Organic and Biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Applications of piezoresponse force microscopy in materials research: from inorganic ferroelectrics to biopiezoelectrics and beyond

Denning

Guyonnet

Rodriguez

2016

International Materials Reviews

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Piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) probes the mechanical deformation of a sample in response to an electric field applied with the tip of an atomic force microscope. Originally developed more than two decades ago to study ferroelectric materials, this technique has since been used to probe electromechanical functionality in a wide range of piezoelectric materials including organic and biological systems. PFM has also been demonstrated as a useful tool to detect mechanical strain originating from electrical phenomena in nonpiezoelectric materials. Paralleling advances in analytical and numerical modelling, many technical improvements have been made in the last decade: switching spectroscopy PFM allows the polarisation switching properties of ferroelectrics to be resolved in real space with nanometric resolution, while dual ac resonance tracking and band excitation PFM have been used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. In turn, these advances have led to increasingly large multidimensional data sets containing more complete information on the properties of the sample studied. In this review, PFM operation and calibration are described, and recent advances in the characterisation of electromechanical coupling using PFM are presented. The breadth of the systems covered highlights the versatility and wide applicability of PFM in fields as diverse as materials engineering and nanomedicine. In each of these fields, combining PFM with complementary techniques is key to develop future insight into the intrinsic properties of the materials as well as for device applications.

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Section: Ferroelectric Phenomena In Organic and Biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Ferroelectric Phenomena In Organic and Biological Systemsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Applications of piezoresponse force microscopy in materials research: from inorganic ferroelectrics to biopiezoelectrics and beyond

Denning

Guyonnet

Rodriguez

2016

International Materials Reviews

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“…For example, it was hypothesized that the conformation transition in voltage-gated ion channels is ferroelectric in nature (8,9). Nevertheless, indication of ferroelectricity in biological materials has only recently emerged from nanoscale piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) studies (10)(11)(12)(13).…”

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confidence: 99%

Ferroelectric switching of elastin

Liu

Cai

Zelisko

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Ferroelectricity has long been speculated to have important biological functions, although its very existence in biology has never been firmly established. Here, we present compelling evidence that elastin, the key ECM protein found in connective tissues, is ferroelectric, and we elucidate the molecular mechanism of its switching. Nanoscale piezoresponse force microscopy and macroscopic pyroelectric measurements both show that elastin retains ferroelectricity at 473 K, with polarization on the order of 1 μC/cm 2 , whereas coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations predict similar polarization with a Curie temperature of 580 K, which is higher than most synthetic molecular ferroelectrics. The polarization of elastin is found to be intrinsic in tropoelastin at the monomer level, analogous to the unit cell level polarization in classical perovskite ferroelectrics, and it switches via thermally activated cooperative rotation of dipoles. Our study sheds light onto a long-standing question on ferroelectric switching in biology and establishes ferroelectricity as an important biophysical property of proteins. This is a critical first step toward resolving its physiological significance and pathological implications.F erroelectricity was first discovered in synthetic materials in 1920 when spontaneous polarization of Rochelle salt was found to be switchable by an external electric field (1). Ferroelectrics thus belongs to a larger class of pyroelectric materials that possess a unique polar axis, which, in turn, belongs to piezoelectrics exhibiting linear coupling between electric and mechanical fields (2). Because of these versatile properties, ferroelectric materials are promising for a wide range of technological applications in data storage, sensing, actuation, energy harvesting, and electro-optic devices (3). Biological tissues, such as bones and tendons, were first observed to be piezoelectric in 1950s (4), and shortly thereafter, pyroelectricity was discovered in a variety of biological materials as well (5, 6). Ever since then, ferroelectricity has been speculated for biological systems, and its potential physiological significance has been suggested (7). For example, it was hypothesized that the conformation transition in voltage-gated ion channels is ferroelectric in nature (8, 9). Nevertheless, indication of ferroelectricity in biological materials has only recently emerged from nanoscale piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) studies (10-13).This work is motivated by our recent observation of PFM switching in elastin (12), which has generated quite a bit of excitement, although there is still considerable skepticism regarding the notion of biological ferroelectricity. Such reservation is understandable, given the unusual phenomenon of ferroelectric switching in biology, some ambiguities associated with PFM hysteresis, and a current lack of understanding of the basic science underpinning the switching mechanism. Indeed, there is neither macroscopic evidence of ferroelectric switching nor microscopic understan...

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“…21 In the present issue, Karapetian and Kalinin developed a timely theoretical analysis of indentation of materials with chemical species distribution, which can be used to analyze and interpret imaging mechanism of ESM. 58 Furthermore, the 2010 Preface also predicted opportunities for new discoveries and breakthroughs in biological systems and strongly correlated oxides, and one of the exciting developments in the last two years is the observation of biological ferroelectricity in seashells, 22 aortic walls, 23 elastin, 24 glycine, 25 and peptide nanotubes, 26 which came more than 50 years after the closely related piezoelectricity was reported in biological tissues and 5 years after ubiquitous presence of biological piezoelectricity was established by PFM. [27][28][29][30][31] This advance is undoubtedly enabled by PFM, as vividly illustrated by Li and Zeng in their detailed studies on electromechanical coupling and ferroelectric switching of seashell in the present issue.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exciting opportunity exists in biology, and we expect ferroelectricity to be found in many more biological materials and structures and believe PFM will help uncover its molecular mechanisms and physiological significance. For example, a recent PFM study reveals that ferroelectric switching of elastin is suppressed by glucose, 24 which could be related to glycation and aging. Great opportunity also exists in molecular and organic ferroelectrics, which starts to show properties comparable to perovskite oxide recently, [55][56][57] and the low symmetric molecular crystal offers much richer phenomena for PFM to probe.…”

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confidence: 99%