Effect of visible and near-infrared light on adenosine triphosphate (atp)

Identifier:  TDX:494

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX494

Authors:  Amat Genís, Albert

Abstract:
ATP is a key molecule in cellular metabolism. In this thesis, I examined the effects of visible (635 and 655 nm) and near-infrared (810 and 830 nm) light on ATP in solution. I also examined were the biochemical behavior of light-exposed ATP in the luciferine-luciferase reaction and hexokinase reaction, the initial step in glycolysis that begins extra mithocondrial ATP synthesis. Irradiated groups in the luciferine-luciferase reaction showed an improvement in the kinetic parameters V0 and k, and more ATP molecules reacted with the enzyme when they were excited by light. When irradiated ATP was added to the hexokinase reaction, the experimental groups showed significant differences in the Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters (km for ATP and vmax) and the rate of product synthesis was greater. Changes in both reactions were wavelength and dose dependant. When ATP was excited with UV photons, it fluoresced. This fluorescence decreased when Mg2+ was added, probably because the ion binds the phosphates, which are the part of the molecule responsible for light emission. Irradiating the ATP-Mg2+ solution with 655 nm and 830 nm light increased the fluorescence resulting from a displacement of charges in the phosphor-oxygen bond that repels Mg2+. The refraction of light in an ATP solution was observed by the Michelson interferometer and by directly measuring the refractive index. The refractive index changed after red and near-infrared light interaction due to a change in the electrical permittivity of the medium. Since ATP in water is transparent to visible and near-infrared light, and is therefore not a chromophore for those wavelengths, I conclude that the observed light interaction with ATP is not due to photon absorption but to the electromagnetic disturbance produced by the light, which leads to a polarization of the dielectric molecule that is ATP. This interaction of visible and near-infrared electromagnetic energy with ATP offers new perspectives for explaining light interaction at subcellular level.