Heat transfer and thermoregulation within single cells revealed by transient plasmonic imaging

Cells, as the basic unit of life, undergo continuous heat transfer and dissipation during their metabolism, which is related not only to fundamental cellular functions but also massive applications. Unfortunately, thus far, we still know little about the heat transfer properties at the cellular or subcellular levels. Here, we demonstrated a transient microscopic method to measure the heat transfer in single cells. The thermal conductivity of different regions within a single cell shows a wide heterogeneity, and heat transfer in the region near the cell membrane is more active than the central region. However, the median values of thermal conductivity between different individual cells are quite close. A cellular-level heat regulation that responds to environmental temperature is observed in warm-blooded humans and chickens rather than in cold-blooded bullfrogs. According to the temperature-dependent cell metabolism, we proposed a hypothesis for cellular control of heat dissipation, which might be the cellular-level foundation of body thermoregulation.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a transient microscopic method to measure heat transfer in single cells, revealing wide heterogeneity in thermal conductivity among different regions within a cell. The heat transfer near the cell membrane is more active than in the central region, while the median values of thermal conductivity across different individual cells are quite close. Furthermore, warm-blooded organisms like humans and chickens exhibit cellular-level heat regulation in response to environmental temperature, whereas cold-blooded organisms like bullfrogs do not.