ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Quantum magnetic imaging of iron organelles within the pigeon cochlea.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smart biophysical cue-based strategies and materials for intervertebral disc degeneration therapy.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
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- Time-Resolved Diamond Magnetic Microscopy of Superparamagnetic Iron-Oxide Nanoparticles.ACS nano · 2025Article
- Quantum-enhanced diamond molecular tension microscopy for quantifying cellular forces.Science advances · 2024Article
- Bioimaging Probes Based on Magneto-Fluorescent Nanoparticles.Pharmaceutics · 2023Review
- Prussian blue technique is prone to yield false negative results in magnetoreception research.Scientific reports · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The ability of pigeons to sense geomagnetic fields has been conclusively established despite a notable lack of determination of the underlying biophysical mechanisms. Quasi-spherical iron organelles previously termed "cuticulosomes" in the cochlea of pigeons have potential relevance to magnetoreception due to their location and iron composition; however, data regarding the magnetic susceptibility of these structures are currently limited. Here quantum magnetic imaging techniques are applied to characterize the magnetic properties of individual iron cuticulosomes in situ. The stray magnetic fields emanating from cuticulosomes are mapped and compared to a detailed analytical model to provide an estimate of the magnetic susceptibility of the individual particles. The images reveal the presence of superparamagnetic and ferrimagnetic domains within individual cuticulosomes and magnetic susceptibilities within the range 0.029 to 0.22. These results provide insights into the elusive physiological roles of cuticulosomes. The susceptibilities measured are not consistent with a torque-based model of magnetoreception, placing iron storage and stereocilia stabilization as the two leading putative cuticulosome functions. This work establishes quantum magnetic imaging as an important tool to complement the existing array of techniques used to screen for potential magnetic particle-based magnetoreceptor candidates.
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