Electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy used in the characterization of Langmuir Blodgett/Langmuir Schaefer biomimetic membranes

Abstract

In recent years, the classification of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) as a pore-forming disease has been a highly debated topic. It has been postulated that aggregated species, such as amyloid beta (Aβ), derived from a transmembrane protein in neurons, known as amyloid precursor protein (APP), interacts with cell membranes to give toxic effects. One postulated theory suggests that aggregate insertion into cell membranes form non- specific channels that cause a loss of cellular homeostasis. In this investigation, the aim is to produce a defect-free biomimetic model membrane that can be used in future work to validate the AD amyloid pore-hypothesis. The model consists of the deposition of a lipid bilayer by the Langmuir-Blodgett/Langmuir-Schaefer (LB-LS) method onto an electrode surface consisting of silver colloids thus affording the use of the non-invasive, sensitive method of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). By coupling SERS with electrochemistry (EC-SERS), the membrane properties and quality were monitored.