Biological ferroelectricity uncovered in aortic walls by piezoresponse force microscopy.
Biological ferroelectricity uncovered in aortic walls by piezoresponse force microscopy.
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DOI：
10.1103/physrevlett.108.078103
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发表时间：
2012-02-17
影响因子：
8.6
通讯作者：
Li J
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Liu Y;Zhang Y;Chow MJ;Chen QN;Li J
许多生物组织具有自发极化的压电性和热释电性。然而，铁电性在软生物组织中还没有报道。使用压电响应力显微镜，我们发现猪主动脉壁不仅是压电的，而且是铁电的，压电系数在1 pm/V的数量级，矫顽电压约为10 V。通过详细的开关光谱映射和弛豫研究，我们还发现主动脉壁的极化是内部向外偏置的，并且由负电压切换的向内极化是不稳定的，在切换电压被去除后不久自发地反转到更稳定的向外取向。软生物组织中铁电性的发现为其生物物理特性增加了一个重要维度，并且也可能具有生理学意义。
Many biological tissues are piezoelectric and pyroelectric with spontaneous polarization. Ferroelectricity, however, has not been reported in soft biological tissues yet. Using piezoresponse force microscopy, we discover that the porcine aortic walls are not only piezoelectric, but also ferroelectric, with the piezoelectric coefficient in the order of 1 pm/V and coercive voltage approximately 10 V. Through detailed switching spectroscopy mapping and relaxation studies, we also find that the polarization of the aortic walls is internally biased outward, and the inward polarization switched by a negative voltage is unstable, reversing spontaneously to the more stable outward orientation shortly after the switching voltage is removed. The discovery of ferroelectricity in soft biological tissues adds an important dimension to their biophysical properties, and could have physiological implications as well.