Publications by authors named "Luca Quaroni"

Noise generation by low Mach number air flows through circular orifices in rectangular ducts is investigated. In particular, the influence of the number and position of the orifices maintaining a constant flow area is addressed. A review of the available theories suggests a certain importance of such parameters in the excitation of higher-order acoustic duct modes.

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We used infrared (IR) microscopy to monitor in real-time the metabolic turnover of individual mammalian cells in morphologically different states. By relying on the intrinsic absorption of mid-IR light by molecular components, we could discriminate the metabolism of adherent cells as compared to suspended cells. We identified major biochemical differences between the two cellular states, whereby only adherent cells appeared to rely heavily on glycolytic turnover and lactic fermentation.

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We use photothermal induced resonance (PTIR) imaging and spectroscopy, in resonant and non-resonant mode, to study the cytoplasmic membrane and surface of intact cells. Non-resonant PTIR images apparently provide rich details of the cell surface. However, we show that non-resonant image contrast does not arise from the infrared absorption of surface molecules and is instead dominated by the mechanics of tip-sample contact.

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Photothermal-induced resonance (PTIR) is increasingly used in the measurement of infrared absorption spectra of submicrometer objects. The technique measures IR absorption spectra by relying on the photothermal effect induced by a rapid pulse of light and the excitation of the resonance spectrum of an AFM cantilever in contact with the sample. In this work, we assess the spatial resolution and depth response of PTIR in resonant mode while systematically varying the pulsing parameters of the excitation laser.

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We studied the effect of the exposure of human A549 and SH-SY5Y cell lines to aqueous solutions of organic/inorganic halide perovskites CHNHPbI (MAPbI) and CHNHSnI (MASnI) at the molecular level by using Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy. We monitored the infrared spectra of some cells over a few days following exposure to the metals and observed the spectroscopic changes dominated by the appearance of a strong band at 1627 cm. We used Infrared (IR) mapping to show that this change was associated with the cell itself or the cellular membrane.

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Photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) measures the photon absorption spectrum of a sample through detection of the acoustic wave generated by the photothermal effect as one modulates the intensity of the incident radiation at each wavelength. We have recently demonstrated the implementation of PAS in a microscopy configuration with mid-infrared radiation (microPAS). In the present work, we describe the performance of microPAS using synchrotron radiation (SR) in diffraction-limited spectromicroscopy and imaging experiments.

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Photothermal-induced resonance (PTIR) spectroscopy and imaging with infrared light has seen increasing application in the molecular spectroscopy of biological samples. The appeal of the technique lies in its capability to provide information about IR light absorption at a spatial resolution better than that allowed by light diffraction, typically below 100 nm. In the present work, we tested the capability of the technique to perform measurements with subcellular resolution on intact eukaryotic cells, without drying or fixing.

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Mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy has been used extensively to study the molecular properties of cell membranes and model systems. Most of these studies have been carried out on macroscopic samples or on samples a few micrometers in size, due to constraints on sensitivity and spatial resolution with conventional instruments that rely on far-field optics. Properties of membranes on the scale of nanometers, such as in-plane heterogeneity, have to date eluded investigation by this technique.

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The neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia is caused by lower than normal levels of frataxin, an important protein involved in iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biogenesis. An important step in designing strategies to treat this disease is to understand whether increasing the frataxin levels by gene therapy would simply be beneficial or detrimental, because previous studies, mostly based on animal models, have reported conflicting results. Here, we have exploited an inducible model, which we developed using the CRISPR/Cas9 methodology, to study the effects of frataxin overexpression in human cells and monitor how the system recovers after overexpression.

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Atomic force microscopy - infrared (AFM-IR) spectroscopy allows spectroscopic studies in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region with a spatial resolution better than is allowed by the diffraction limit. We show that the high spatial resolution can be used to perform spectroscopic and imaging studies at the subcellular level in fixed eukaryotic cells. We collect AFM-IR images of subcellular structures that include lipid droplets, vesicles and cytoskeletal filaments, by relying on the intrinsic contrast from IR light absorption.

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A major topic in InfraRed (IR) spectroscopic studies of living cells is the complexity of the vibrational spectra, involving hundreds of overlapping absorption bands from all the cellular components present at detectable concentrations. We focus on the relative contribution of both small-molecule metabolites and macromolecules, while defining the spectroscopic properties of cells and tissue in the middle IR (midIR) region. As a consequence, we show the limitations of current interpretative schemes that rely on a small number of macromolecules for IR band assignment.

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Constitutional isomers of cyanocobalamin adducts based on a fluorescent rhenium tris-carbonyl diimine complex were prepared, characterized and tested against PC-3 cancer cells. The adducts differ only in the relative binding position of the organometallic species which is either bound at the cyano or the 5'-hydroxo group of vitamin B12. When tested for their cytotoxic potency, the species showed IC50 values in the low μM rage.

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We show that attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy can be used to determine the surface charge density (SCD) of colloidal silica nanoparticles (NPs) in aqueous solution. We identify the Si-O stretch vibrations of neutral surface bound silanol, ≡Si-OH, and of the deprotonated group, ≡Si-O(-). The position of the Si-(OH) stretch vibration is shown to directly correlate with the NPs SCD as determined by traditional potentiometric titrations, shifting to lower wavenumber (cm(-1)) with increasing density of ≡Si-O(-).

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Twisted stalks are organo-mineral structures produced by some microaerophilic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria at O2 concentrations as low as 3 μM. The presence of these structures in rocks having experienced a diagenetic history could indicate microbial Fe(II)-oxidizing activity as well as localized abundance of oxygen at the time of sediment deposition. Here we use spectroscopy and analytical microscopy to evaluate if--and what kind of--transformations occur in twisted stalks through experimental diagenesis.

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Microscopy in the mid-infrared spectral range provides detailed chemical information on a sample at moderate spatial resolution and is being used increasingly in the characterization of biological entities as challenging as single cells. However, a conventional cellular 2D imaging measurement is limited in its ability to associate specific compositional information to subcellular structures because of the interference from the complex topography of the sample. Herein we provide a method and protocols that overcome this challenge in which tilt-series infrared tomography is used with a standard benchtop infrared microscope.

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We describe a novel cell used to combine in situ transmission X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) with diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) in a single experiment. The novelty of the cell design compared to current examples is that both radiations are passed through an X-ray and IR transparent window in direct contact with the sample. This innovative geometry also offers a wide surface for IR collection.

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In recent years, major efforts have been devoted to the application of microscopy with mid-infrared light to the study of living cells and tissue. Despite this interest, infrared (IR) microscopy has not realized its full potential in the molecular characterization of living systems. This is partly due to the fact that current approaches for data mining and analysis of IR absorption spectra have not evolved comparably to measurement technology and are not up to the interpretation of the complex spectra of living systems such as cells and tissue.

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We successfully tested the viability of using synchrotron-based full-field infrared imaging to study biochemical processes inside living cells. As a model system, we studied fibroblast cells exposed to a medium highly enriched with D2O. We could show that the experimental technique allows us to reproduce at the cellular level measurements that are normally performed on purified biological molecules.

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Studies of the decades-long latent stages of breast carcinogenesis have been limited to when hyperplastic lesions are already present. Investigations of earlier stages of breast cancer (BC) latency have been stymied by the lack of fiducial biomarkers needed to identify where in histologically normal tissues progression toward a BC might be taking place. Recent evidence suggests that a marker of chronic oxidative stress (OxS), protein adducts of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4HNE), can meet this need.

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Carbon monoxide releasing molecules (CORMs) are an emerging class of pharmaceutical compounds currently evaluated in several preclinical disease models. There is general consensus that the therapeutic effects elicited by the molecules may be directly ascribed to the biological function of the released CO. It remains unclear, however, if cellular internalization of CORMs is a critical event in their therapeutic action.

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We previously used synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy to describe the biochemical signature of skeletal muscle (biceps brachii) from the frozen ancient remains of a young man. In this current paper, we use light microscopy to assess the state of preservation of cellular components in the trapezius muscle from these same ancient remains and then use mid-infrared analysis at the Canadian Light Source synchrotron facility to further analyze the tissue. We compare spectra between the trapezius samples from the ancient remains and a recently deceased cadaver (control).

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