Resonant Inhibition of polyQ Peptide Fibrillation via Vibrational Strong Coupling

Understanding amyloid fibril formation through interfacial peptide self-assembly remains a fundamental challenge in both neurodegenerative disease pathology, particularly Huntington’s disease and related polyglutamine disorders characterized by pathogenic amyloid aggregation. Current therapeutic approaches to regulate amyloid aggregation face challenges in precision, invasiveness, and unintended biological effects. In this study, we introduce a noninvasive method leveraging vibrational strong coupling (VSC) within optical microcavities to selectively inhibit polyglutamine (polyQ) peptide fibrillation. By resonantly coupling the O–H vibrational mode of water molecules (1645 cm – 1 ) to the confined electromagnetic field, fibril formation was significantly suppressed by 42.5%. The inhibition efficacy shows a good alignment with the strength of VSC with O–H bending vibrational band. Morphological analysis revealed a 3-fold reduction in fibril density and shortened fibril lengths (153 nm vs 452 nm in controls), with obvious disruption in β-sheet network formation compared to uncoupled controls. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that cavity-induced rearrangement of interfacial water restricts peptide nucleation. These results establish solvent-vibration control as a distinctive route to modulate amyloid aggregation, positioning VSC as a precise and noninvasive tool for studying molecular self-assembly and protein misfolding.