Marie Pigeon-Gosselin

Laser raman investigation of intact single muscle fibers: Protein conformations

Raman spectra, in the frequency region of the protein vibrations, of intact single muscle fibers of the giant barnacle are presented. Strong bands at 1521 and 1156 cm-1 in the spectra are attributed to resonance-enhanced Raman bands of membrane-bound beta-carotene. Many bands of the myofibrillar proteins are also observed, and at least three spectral features confirm that these proteins adopt a predominantly alpha-helical structure: (1) the amide I band at 1648 cm-1, (2) the weak scattering in the amide III region, and (3) a strong skeletal C-C stretching band at 939 cm-1. Deuterated fibers have also been examined in order to find the exact shape of the amide III band. The presence in the fibers of paramyosin, which is only found in catch muscles, is also apparent from the spectra.

An electrostatic model for hydrogen bonds in alcohols

We have measured the Raman spectra of liquid methanol at temperatures between 50° and −77°C. The weak O−H stretching bands appear, under amplification, more and more asymmetric as the temperature is lowered. They can be decomposed into three Gaussian components centered at about 3220, 3310, and 3400 cm−1. The former, predominant at low temperature, corresponds to single, linear hydrogen bonds (LHB) between two molecules. The other two are assigned to branched hydrogen bonds, respectively bifurcated (BHB), between three molecules, and trifurcated (THB), between four molecules. We conclude that the molecular structure of liquid alcohols is not chain-like, as presumed so far, but a three-dimensional network featuring a mixture of single (LBH), and multiple hydrogen bonds (BHB, and THB). They are mainly electrostatic in nature, their relative proportions and geometry governed by the packing conditions for minimum energy. They form distinct trimers and tetramers in dilute solutions of alcohols in inert solvents and frozen matrices, and the latter even in the vapor.

Laser Raman study of internally perfused muscle fibers effect of Mg2+, ATP and Ca2+

Raman spectra of an intact muscle fiber and of internally perfused fibers in capillary tubes have been obtained. The use of internal perfusion has insured a good control of the concentration of Ca2+, Mg2+ and ATP. The comparison of the spectra obtained with the two types of fibers shows that the muscle structure is well preserved in capillary tubes. In addition, it appears that the sarcomere length has no significant effect on the Raman spectrum of muscle fibers. Our results on perfused fibers demonstrate that a fiber can be kept in the relaxed state for several hours, then displaying an intact fiber spectrum, when the concentration of ATP, Mg2+ and Ca2+ is maintained at 5, 2 and 0 mM, respectively. Therefore ATP and Mg2+ do not affect the Raman spectrum of muscle fibers. When one of these components is removed, or when Ca2+ is added, contraction occurs and causes major spectral changes. These results are interpreted as being due to strong electrostatic interactions between basic and acidic residues during contraction, and to a change of the alpha-helical content, or of the orientation, of some of the contractile proteins.

Effect of the action potential on the Raman spectrum of the pike olfactory nerve

Raman bands due to the C-H stretching vibrations of the phospholipid acyl chains, as well as those due to resonance enhanced vibrations of carotenoid pigments, were used to probe for conformational changes during the passage of the action potential through fibers of the pike unmyelinated olfactory nerve. Our results show that if there are any spectral changes during nerve excitation, these are less than 0.5% for both the phospholipid and the carotenoid bands.