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Study growth of microtubules on surface by Dual polarization interferometry (DPI) (CAT#: STEM-MB-0449-WXH)

Introduction

Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules are one of the cytoskeletal filament systems in eukaryotic cells. The microtubule cytoskeleton is involved in the transport of material within cells, carried out by motor proteins that move on the surface of the microtubule.
Microtubules play an important role in a number of cellular processes. They are involved in maintaining the structure of the cell and, together with microfilaments and intermediate filaments, they form the cytoskeleton. They also make up the internal structure of cilia and flagella. They provide platforms for intracellular transport and are involved in a variety of cellular processes, including the movement of secretory vesicles, organelles, and intracellular macromolecular assemblies. They are also involved in cell division (by mitosis and meiosis) and are the main constituents of mitotic spindles, which are used to pull eukaryotic chromosomes apart.




Principle

Dual polarization interferometry (DPI) is an analytical technique that allows the simultaneous determination of thickness, density, and mass of a biological layer on a sensing waveguide surface in real time. DPI focuses laser light into two waveguides. One of these functions as the "sensing" waveguide having an exposed surface while the second one functions to maintain a reference beam. A two-dimensional interference pattern is formed in the far field by combining the light passing through the two waveguides. The DPI technique rotates the polarization of the laser, to alternately excite two polarization modes of the waveguides. Measurement of the interferogram for both polarizations allows both the refractive index and the thickness of the adsorbed layer to be calculated. These measurements can be used to infer conformational information about the molecular interactions taking place, as the molecule size (from the layer thickness) and the fold density (from the RI) change.

Applications

Study growth of microtubules on surface.
Drug discovery.

Procedure

1. Setting of dual polarization interferometry
2. Preparing the DPI sensor chip
3. Immobilization of target on DPI biosensor
4. Reagent was injected to react
5. Quantitative analysis

Materials

• DPI biosensor
• DPI sensor chip
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