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- Spielmann, Thiemo, 1984-
(författare)
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Transient State Fluorescence Microscopy - method development and biological applications : Exploiting the dark states of fluorophores to measure oxygen concentrations, redox state, Förster resonance energy transfer and membrane viscosity
- 2012
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Due to their long lifetime, triplet, redox and other transient states of fluorophores are highly sensitive to the micro-environment. Imaging their spatial distribution in biological samples can therefore help answer interesting questions about the metabolism, molecular interactions and dynamics in living cells. However, as these states are at best weakly luminescent, they have up to now only been used to a limited extent in life sciences. In Transient State (TRAST) imaging, the characteristic build up of transient states is instead monitored via fluorescence, as the excitation is modulated. When the illumination pulse width is step-wise increased, transient states are progressively populated. The resulting depletion of the singlet excited state can be monitored via time-averaged fluorescence. This fluorescence decay is characteristic for the transient state kinetics of the fluorophore in a given environment. Traditional fluorescence parameters can only be influenced within the lifetime of the fluorophore. In contrast, TRAST imaging can monitor photo-induced states with 103− 106 times longer lifetimes and is therefore far more sensitive to sparse quencher molecules, such as dissolved oxygen. Transient state kinetics can also be studied using Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). In contrast to FCS, transient state imaging circumvents the need of time resolution in the fluorescence detection, thereby allowing simultaneous readout over a large number of pixels using a camera. It can also be applied over a broader range of concentrations and does not require a strong fluorescence brightness of the sample molecules. In this thesis, TRAST imaging has been applied in a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope to monitor the redox reactions of fluorescent dyes in solution. Moreover, TRAST imaging was established for measuring lipid microfluidity in biomembranes, and for a new concept to measure molecular distances in combination with Förster Resonance Energy Transfer. The sensitivity of the fluorophore triplet state to oxygen has been exploited in a wide-field microscope to monitor oxygen consumption during the contraction of smooth muscle cells and the modulation of the oxygen consumption of cancer cells by metabolite availability. High triplet yield fluorophores such as Eosin Y are introduced in order to reduce irradiance intensity requirements as reported in earlier TRAST papers. Irradiance requirements and axial resolution have further been reduced using a single plane illumination microscope.
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- Spielmann, Thiemo, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Transient state imaging probes patterns of altered oxygen consumption in cancer cells
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Altered cellular metabolism plays an important role in many diseases, not least in many forms of cancer, where cellular metabolic pathways requiring lower oxygen consumption are often favored (the so-called Warburg effect). In this work, we have applied fluorescence-based transient state imaging and have exploited the environment sensitivity of long-lived dark states of fluorophores, in particular triplet state decay rates, to image the oxygen consumption of living cells. Our measurements can resolve differences in oxygen concentrations between different regions of individual cells, between different cell types, and also based on what metabolic pathways the cells use. In MCF-7 breast cancer cells, higher oxygen consumption can be detected when they rely on glutamine instead of glucose as their main metabolite, predominantly undergoing oxidative phosphorylation rather than glycolysis. By use of the high triplet yield dye Eosin Y the irradiance requirements during the measurements can be kept low. This reduces the instrumentation requirements, and harmful biological effects from high excitation doses can be avoided. Taken together, our imaging approach is widely applicable and capable of detecting subtle changes in oxygen consumption in live cells, stemming from the Warburg effect or reflecting other differences in the cellular metabolism. This may lead to new diagnostic means as well as advance our understanding of the interplay between cellular metabolism and major disease categories, such as cancer.
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