Link the Fluorescence and TEM Studies on Amyloid Fiber Formation -- To Reconstruct the Fiber Length Distribution Based on the Knowledge of Moments Evolution

Abstract

In the study of amyloid fiber formation, the fiber length distribution plays a central role. From this microscopic distribution, all macroscopic statistical quantities, like the fiber number concentration P(t) and mass concentration M(t), can be easily achieved. However the inverse problem is usually non-trivial. In this paper, a practical method is introduced to show how to reconstruct the fiber length distribution function based on the knowledge of P(t) and M(t). Compared to directly solving mass-action equations, our method speeds up the calculation by at least ten thousand times (from days to seconds). And the accuracy is also quite satisfactory. Furthermore our method provides an interesting linkage between the fluorescence imaging and more detailed TEM studies, which may inspire wider applications in this field.