The ability to "see" the inner workings of structures (organelles) within cells, in real time, offers the promise of advancements in disease diagnosis and treatment. Organelle dynamics drive the self-efficient micro-world of cells, but current super-resolution microscopy techniques used to track these interactions have limitations.
Now an advanced technique called SPOT (Spectrum and Polarization Optical Tomography) is giving researchers a "street view" of the vital lipid membranes surrounding organelles and by so doing opens up the opportunities to study the sophisticated world of lipid dynamics.
The researchers say it's a significant development, building on earlier work on super-resolution polarization microscopy. The research is published in Nature Communications.
The lead author said that lipid membranes surround most organelles and play a significant role. "Their shape, composition and phase synergistically regulate biophysical membrane properties, membrane protein function and lipid-protein interactions. However it is challenging to observe such a level of complexity due to their similar chemical composition," the author said.
Simply using one dye that universally stains the lipid membranes, SPOT can simultaneously reveal lipid membrane morphology, polarity, and phase from measuring the intensity, spectrum, and polarization, respectively. Combined with lipophilic probes, the team successfully revealed more than ten types of organelles simultaneously, and their sophisticated lipid dynamics.
Using the new imaging platform established, researchers observed the multi-organelle interactive activities of cell division, lipid dynamics during plasma membrane separation, tunneling nanotubules formation, and mitochondrial cristae dissociation.
"This is the first time researchers have been able to quantitatively study the lipid heterogeneity inside subcellular organelles," senior author.
"This is a very powerful tool for super-resolution imaging the inner working of each single cells, that will advance our knowledge in understanding how cells function, diagnose when a "factory" or a transportation doesn't work properly within the cell, and monitor the progression of disease," the author said.
"With such information it isn't too big a leap to identify pathways for potential drug treatments, as well as examine their efficacy right on the SPOT" the author said.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19747-0
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fhigh-dimensional-super&filter=22
SPOTing the subcellular lipid membranes
- 1,070 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Which of the two DNA strand…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Microglia depletion prevent…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Colorectal cancer stem cell…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Paranoia in the brain
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
In-vitro 3D culture of func…
By newseditor
Posted 15 Jun
Other Top Stories
Bacteria use traffic-cop-like mechanism to infect gut
Read more
A faster and cheaper way to produce new antibiotics
Read more
A device for rapid diagnosis of bacterial infections
Read more
Zika virus may cause microcephaly by hijacking human immune molecule
Read more
The mechanism of regulation of hepatitis C viral propagation and pa…
Read more
Protocols
Bioengineered human colon o…
By newseditor
Posted 14 Jun
Development of an efficient…
By newseditor
Posted 12 Jun
A co-culture system of macr…
By newseditor
Posted 10 Jun
Analysis of 3D pathology sa…
By newseditor
Posted 08 Jun
Long-term expandable mouse…
By newseditor
Posted 07 Jun
Publications
The Thermodynamics of Mind
By newseditor
Posted 17 Jun
Lost in translation: challe…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Jun
Pathways for macrophage upt…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Common and distinct neural…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Strand-resolved mutagenicit…
By newseditor
Posted 16 Jun
Presentations
Myelin plasticity in the ve…
By newseditor
Posted 10 Jun
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar