In this thesis, time-lapse fluorescent microscopy plays a pivotal role in investigating functional materials within living cells as well as the migratory behaviour of neural progenitor cells. The... Show moreIn this thesis, time-lapse fluorescent microscopy plays a pivotal role in investigating functional materials within living cells as well as the migratory behaviour of neural progenitor cells. The first part of the thesis focuses on two different functional nanomaterials (Ag-DNA and polymersomes), whereas the second part explores fluorescent labeling of neural progenitor cells and their cell dynamics within different in vitro systems. Show less
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the presence of abnormal deposits of aggregated proteins in the brain tissue, known as Lewy bodies. The major components of Lewy... Show moreParkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the presence of abnormal deposits of aggregated proteins in the brain tissue, known as Lewy bodies. The major components of Lewy bodies are aggregated forms of a small presynaptic protein known as α-synuclein (α-syn). In this thesis we report on the intricacies of α-syn aggregation. Using an array of biophysical techniques we were able to observe the formation of the earliest α-syn oligomeric species – relatively stable dimers and tetramers – which are more easily formed than commonly assumed. Fluorescent labelling was shown to significantly affect the morphology of α-syn aggregates, which limits the applicability of this technique. From the growth kinetics of α-syn fibrillar seeds we conclude that the elongation of fibrils proceeds by a different mechanism than primary nucleation. Further, we studied the effect of solution conditions and surface effects on the growth of the α-syn aggregates. Using total internal reflection microscopy and confocal fluorescence imaging we observed the elongation of individual fibrils in real time, showing that this process proceeds by leaps and bounds. Show less
