scholarly journals Advanced imaging approaches to reveal molecular mechanisms governing neuroendocrine secretion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Riachy ◽  
Thomas Ferrand ◽  
Sylvette Chasserot-Golaz ◽  
Ludovic Galas ◽  
Stéphane Alexandre ◽  
...  

Identification of the molecular mechanisms governing neuroendocrine secretion and resulting intercellular communication is one of the great challenges of cell biology to better understand organism physiology and neurosecretion disruption-related pathologies such as hypertension, neurodegenerative or metabolic diseases. To visualize molecule distribution and dynamics below the diffraction limit, many imaging approaches have been developed and are still emerging. In this review, we provide an overview of the pioneering studies that use transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, total internal reflection microscopy and super-resolution microscopy in neuroendocrine cells to visualize molecular mechanisms driving neurosecretion processes, including exocytosis and associated fusion pores, endocytosis and associated recycling vesicles, and protein-protein/protein-lipid interactions. Furthermore, the potential and the challenges of these different advanced imaging approaches for application in the study of neuroendocrine cell biology are discussed, aiming to guide researchers to select the best approach for their specific purpose around the crucial but not yet fully understood neurosecretion process.

Author(s):  
CE Bracker ◽  
P. K. Hansma

A new family of scanning probe microscopes has emerged that is opening new horizons for investigating the fine structure of matter. The earliest and best known of these instruments is the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). First published in 1982, the STM earned the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics for two of its inventors, G. Binnig and H. Rohrer. They shared the prize with E. Ruska for his work that had led to the development of the transmission electron microscope half a century earlier. It seems appropriate that the award embodied this particular blend of the old and the new because it demonstrated to the world a long overdue respect for the enormous contributions electron microscopy has made to the understanding of matter, and at the same time it signalled the dawn of a new age in microscopy. What we are seeing is a revolution in microscopy and a redefinition of the concept of a microscope.Several kinds of scanning probe microscopes now exist, and the number is increasing. What they share in common is a small probe that is scanned over the surface of a specimen and measures a physical property on a very small scale, at or near the surface. Scanning probes can measure temperature, magnetic fields, tunneling currents, voltage, force, and ion currents, among others.


Author(s):  
Tsung-Te Li ◽  
Chao-Chi Wu ◽  
Jung-Hsiang Chuang ◽  
Jon C. Lee

Abstract This article describes the electrical and physical analysis of gate leakage in nanometer transistors using conducting atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), nano-probing, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and chemical decoration on simulated overstressed devices. A failure analysis case study involving a soft single bit failure is detailed. Following the nano-probing analysis, TEM cross sectioning of this failing device was performed. A voltage bias was applied to exaggerate the gate leakage site. Following this deliberate voltage overstress, a solution of boiling 10%wt KOH was used to etch decorate the gate leakage site followed by SEM inspection. Different transistor leakage behaviors can be identified with nano-probing measurements and then compared with simulation data for increased confidence in the failure analysis result. Nano-probing can be used to apply voltage stress on a transistor or a leakage path to worsen the weak point and then observe the leakage site easier.


Photonics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Rajeev R. Kosireddy ◽  
Stephen T. Schaefer ◽  
Marko S. Milosavljevic ◽  
Shane R. Johnson

Three InAsSbBi samples are grown by molecular beam epitaxy at 400 °C on GaSb substrates with three different offcuts: (100) on-axis, (100) offcut 1° toward [011], and (100) offcut 4° toward [011]. The samples are investigated using X-ray diffraction, Nomarski optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The InAsSbBi layers are 210 nm thick, coherently strained, and show no observable defects. The substrate offcut is not observed to influence the structural and interface quality of the samples. Each sample exhibits small lateral variations in the Bi mole fraction, with the largest variation observed in the on-axis growth. Bismuth rich surface droplet features are observed on all samples. The surface droplets are isotropic on the on-axis sample and elongated along the [011¯] step edges on the 1° and 4° offcut samples. No significant change in optical quality with offcut angle is observed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Penedo ◽  
Tetsuya Shirokawa ◽  
Mohammad Shahidul Alam ◽  
Keisuke Miyazawa ◽  
Takehiko Ichikawa ◽  
...  

AbstractOver the last decade, nanoneedle-based systems have demonstrated to be extremely useful in cell biology. They can be used as nanotools for drug delivery, biosensing or biomolecular recognition inside cells; or they can be employed to select and sort in parallel a large number of living cells. When using these nanoprobes, the most important requirement is to minimize the cell damage, reducing the forces and indentation lengths needed to penetrate the cell membrane. This is normally achieved by reducing the diameter of the nanoneedles. However, several studies have shown that nanoneedles with a flat tip display lower penetration forces and indentation lengths. In this work, we have tested different nanoneedle shapes and diameters to reduce the force and the indentation length needed to penetrate the cell membrane, demonstrating that ultra-thin and sharp nanoprobes can further reduce them, consequently minimizing the cell damage.


2001 ◽  
Vol 674 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ralf Detemple ◽  
Inés Friedrich ◽  
Walter Njoroge ◽  
Ingo Thomas ◽  
Volker Weidenhof ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTVital requirements for the future success of phase change media are high data transfer rates, i.e. fast processes to read, write and erase bits of information. The understanding and optimization of fast transformations is a considerable challenge since the processes only occur on a submicrometer length scale in actual bits. Hence both high temporal and spatial resolution is needed to unravel the essential details of the phase transformation. We employ a combination of fast optical measurements with microscopic analyses using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The AFM measurements exploit the fact that the phase transformation from amorphous to crystalline is accompanied by a 6% volume reduction. This enables a measurement of the vertical and lateral speed of the phase transformation. Several examples will be presented showing the information gained by this combination of techniques.


1995 ◽  
Vol 378 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Kissinger ◽  
T. Morgenstern ◽  
G. Morgenstern ◽  
H. B. Erzgräber ◽  
H. Richter

AbstractStepwise equilibrated graded GexSii-x (x≤0.2) buffers with threading dislocation densities between 102 and 103 cm−2 on the whole area of 4 inch silicon wafers were grown and studied by transmission electron microscopy, defect etching, atomic force microscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy.


1995 ◽  
Vol 403 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bai ◽  
S. Wittenbrock ◽  
V. Ochoa ◽  
R. Villasol ◽  
C. Chiang ◽  
...  

AbstractCu has two advantages over Al for sub-quarter micron interconnect application: (1) higher conductivity and (2) improved electromigration reliability. However, Cu diffuses quickly in SiO2and Si, and must be encapsulated. Polycrystalline films of Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) Ta, W, Mo, TiN, and Metal-Organo Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) TiN and Ti-Si-N have been evaluated as Cu diffusion barriers using electrically biased-thermal-stressing tests. Barrier effectiveness of these thin films were correlated with their physical properties from Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Secondary Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES) analysis. The barrier failure is dominated by “micro-defects” in the barrier film that serve as easy pathways for Cu diffusion. An ideal barrier system should be free of such micro-defects (e.g., amorphous Ti-Si-N and annealed Ta). The median-time-to-failure (MTTF) of a Ta barrier (30 nm) has been measured at different bias electrical fields and stressing temperatures, and the extrapolated MTTF of such a barrier is > 100 year at an operating condition of 200C and 0.1 MV/cm.


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