Imaging the Substructures of Individual IgE Antibodies with Atomic Force Microscopy

Langmuir. 2019 Nov 19;35(46):14896-14901. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b02631. Epub 2019 Nov 7.

Abstract

The interactions between antibodies and substrates directly affect their conformations and thus their immune functions. Therefore, it is desirable to study the structures of antibodies at the single molecule level. Herein, the substructures of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) on solid surfaces were investigated. For this purpose, tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM) was applied to observe individual IgE substructures adsorbed onto Mg2+ and Na+ modified mica substrates in air. As expected, the AFM images revealed that the IgE antibodies exhibited different conformations on the surface of mica substrate consisting of the four basic orientations: three domain, two equivalent domain, two unequal domain, and single domain morphologies. Moreover, the differences in the different orientations in single IgE antibodies were also identified clearly.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adsorption
  • Aluminum Silicates / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin E / chemistry*
  • Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments / chemistry
  • Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments / chemistry
  • Magnesium / chemistry
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force / methods*
  • Molecular Imaging
  • Sodium / chemistry

Substances

  • Aluminum Silicates
  • Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments
  • Immunoglobulin Fc Fragments
  • Immunoglobulin E
  • Sodium
  • Magnesium
  • mica