Ryan A. Merritt, Kegan Heaney, Nuren Shuchi, Kacy L. Gordon, Susan R. Trammell
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Organisms carry out metabolic processes to produce chemical energy, but these biochemical pathways are inherently inefficient, resulting in the loss of energy as heat. This study reports the first characterization of the thermal signature of waste heat production in the ectothermic invertebrate
Caenorhabditis elegans
using thermal infrared (8–10 μm) imaging. A label-free imaging approach was developed to distinguish the heat output of living versus dead
C. elegans
by employing a cold object in reflectance mode with a highly reflective imaging substrate to suppress the thermal background. This method reveals a clear, repeatable difference in both the thermal output and cooling rate of living versus dead worms. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy confirms that the measured temperature differences arise from variations in kinetic temperature rather than differences in thermal emissivity. This novel approach provides a powerful tool for studying the previously inaccessible thermal biology of small ectothermic invertebrates.
期刊介绍:
The first international journal dedicated to publishing reviews and original articles from this exciting field, the Journal of Biophotonics covers the broad range of research on interactions between light and biological material. The journal offers a platform where the physicist communicates with the biologist and where the clinical practitioner learns about the latest tools for the diagnosis of diseases. As such, the journal is highly interdisciplinary, publishing cutting edge research in the fields of life sciences, medicine, physics, chemistry, and engineering. The coverage extends from fundamental research to specific developments, while also including the latest applications.