Toolbox Development for Cellular Endomembrane Studies in the Living System: Fluorescence Probes and Advanced Imaging Strategies

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 10274

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Guest Editor
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: optical probes; super-resolution imaging; FLIM; NIR imaging; bioimaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Mong Senior Cornell Neurotech Fellow, School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Interests: super-resolution microscopy and three photon microscopy development; adaptive optics; OCT
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: computational microscopy

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Guest Editor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Interests: photoacoustic imaging; luminescent nanoprobe; biophotonics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cellular endomembrane is a complex series of interconnected membranous organelles that play important roles in stress response and cell homeostasis maintenance during health and disease. The cellular endomembrane mainly consists of a monolayer or bilayer of subcellular organelles, such as endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes, nuclear envelope, etc. Emerging advanced optical microscopy techniques have become indispensable tools for insights into the cellular endomembrane, which are capable of visualizing structures down to the subcellular level. Fluorescent probes possessing excellent optical properties play great roles in different microscopies, which largely promote the advancement of optical microscopy techniques. To date, a lot of fluorescent probes, such as fluorescent proteins, organic dyes, nanomaterials, quantum dots, and carbon dots have been employed for optical microscopy, which leads to high fluorescent efficacy biocompatibility, and photobleaching endurability.

This Research Topic aims to investigate new optical probes and imaging techniques that can advance the field of optical diffraction-limited and sub-diffraction microscopy and its biological applications. Original research articles and perspectives are welcome from multidisciplinary research fields, with a focus on topics including, but not limited to:

1. Novel fluorescent probes or optical materials or fluorescent proteins for optical diffraction-limited and sub-diffraction microscopy;

2. Design and preparation for quantum dots, carbon dots, polymer dots, upconversion nanomaterials, and other nanostructured materials fulfilling the criteria for a probe for optical microscopy;

3. Biological label strategy for fluorescent/optical probes;

4. Optical imaging techniques of biological membrane structures.

Prof. Dr. Zhigang Yang
Dr. Xusan Yang
Dr. Hao Xie
Dr. Chenshuo Ma
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fluorescent probe
  • endomembrane system
  • diffraction-limited and sub-diffraction
  • optical microscopy
  • living cell

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3981 KiB  
Article
Dysfunction of EAAT3 Aggravates LPS-Induced Post-Operative Cognitive Dysfunction
by Xiao-Yan Wang, Wen-Gang Liu, Ai-Sheng Hou, Yu-Xiang Song, Yu-Long Ma, Xiao-Dong Wu, Jiang-Bei Cao and Wei-Dong Mi
Membranes 2022, 12(3), 317; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12030317 - 11 Mar 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2280
Abstract
Numerous results have revealed an association between inhibited function of excitatory amino acid transporter 3 (EAAT3) and several neurodegenerative diseases. This was also corroborated by our previous studies which showed that the EAAT3 function was intimately linked to learning and memory. With this [...] Read more.
Numerous results have revealed an association between inhibited function of excitatory amino acid transporter 3 (EAAT3) and several neurodegenerative diseases. This was also corroborated by our previous studies which showed that the EAAT3 function was intimately linked to learning and memory. With this premise, we examined the role of EAAT3 in post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) and explored the potential benefit of riluzole in countering POCD in the present study. We first established a recombinant adeno-associated-viral (rAAV)-mediated shRNA to knockdown SLC1A1/EAAT3 expression in the hippocampus of adult male mice. The mice then received an intracerebroventricular microinjection of 2 μg lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to construct the POCD model. In addition, for old male mice, 4 mg/kg of riluzole was intraperitoneally injected for three consecutive days, with the last injection administered 2 h before the LPS microinjection. Cognitive function was assessed using the Morris water maze 24 h following the LPS microinjection. Animal behavioral tests, as well as pathological and biochemical assays, were performed to clarify the role of EAAT3 function in POCD and evaluate the effect of activating the EAAT3 function by riluzole. In the present study, we established a mouse model with hippocampal SLC1A1/EAAT3 knockdown and found that hippocampal SLC1A1/EAAT3 knockdown aggravated LPS-induced learning and memory deficits in adult male mice. Meanwhile, LPS significantly inhibited the expression of EAAT3 membrane protein and the phosphorylation level of GluA1 protein in the hippocampus of adult male mice. Moreover, riluzole pretreatment significantly increased the expression of hippocampal EAAT3 membrane protein and also ameliorated LPS-induced cognitive impairment in elderly male mice. Taken together, our results demonstrated that the dysfunction of EAAT3 is an important risk factor for POCD susceptibility and therefore, it may become a promising target for POCD treatment. Full article
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9 pages, 3288 KiB  
Article
HiLo Based Line Scanning Temporal Focusing Microscopy for High-Speed, Deep Tissue Imaging
by Ruheng Shi, Yuanlong Zhang, Tiankuang Zhou and Lingjie Kong
Membranes 2021, 11(8), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11080634 - 17 Aug 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2591
Abstract
High-speed, optical-sectioning imaging is highly desired in biomedical studies, as most bio-structures and bio-dynamics are in three-dimensions. Compared to point-scanning techniques, line scanning temporal focusing microscopy (LSTFM) is a promising method that can achieve high temporal resolution while maintaining a deep penetration depth. [...] Read more.
High-speed, optical-sectioning imaging is highly desired in biomedical studies, as most bio-structures and bio-dynamics are in three-dimensions. Compared to point-scanning techniques, line scanning temporal focusing microscopy (LSTFM) is a promising method that can achieve high temporal resolution while maintaining a deep penetration depth. However, the contrast and axial confinement would still be deteriorated in scattering tissue imaging. Here, we propose a HiLo-based LSTFM, utilizing structured illumination to inhibit the fluorescence background and, thus, enhance the image contrast and axial confinement in deep imaging. We demonstrate the superiority of our method by performing volumetric imaging of neurons and dynamical imaging of microglia in mouse brains in vivo. Full article
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13 pages, 3785 KiB  
Article
Delivery of Foreign Materials into Adherent Cells by Gold Nanoparticle-Mediated Photoporation
by Xiaofan Du, Jing Wang, Lan Chen, Zhenxi Zhang and Cuiping Yao
Membranes 2021, 11(8), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11080550 - 22 Jul 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2014
Abstract
Delivering extracellular materials into adherent cells presents several challenges. A homemade photoporation platform, mediated by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), was constructed to find a suitable method for finding all adherent cells in this process with high delivery efficiency. The thermal dynamics of AuNPs could [...] Read more.
Delivering extracellular materials into adherent cells presents several challenges. A homemade photoporation platform, mediated by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), was constructed to find a suitable method for finding all adherent cells in this process with high delivery efficiency. The thermal dynamics of AuNPs could be monitored. Based on this system, 60 nm AuNPs were selected to be attached to cells for optimal photoporation. After irradiating the cells covered with AuNPs using a nanosecond pulse laser, fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran in the medium were delivered into optoporated adherent HeLa (human cervical cell lines) cells. The delivery efficiency and cell viability of this process were evaluated using a fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry. The experimental results showed that targeting cells using antibodies, laser irradiation from the top of the cell culture well, and reducing the cell medium are important for improving the delivery efficiency. The optimal loading efficiency for adherent HeLa cells was 53.4%. Full article
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10 pages, 3261 KiB  
Article
Deep Penetration Microscopic Imaging with Non-Diffracting Airy Beams
by Yong Guo, Yangrui Huang, Jin Li, Luwei Wang, Zhigang Yang, Jinyuan Liu, Xiao Peng, Wei Yan and Junle Qu
Membranes 2021, 11(6), 391; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11060391 - 26 May 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2510
Abstract
We report a deep penetration microscopic imaging method with a non-diffracting Airy beam. The direct mapping of volume imaging in free space shows that the axial imaging range of the Airy beam is approximately 4 times that of the traditional Gaussian beam along [...] Read more.
We report a deep penetration microscopic imaging method with a non-diffracting Airy beam. The direct mapping of volume imaging in free space shows that the axial imaging range of the Airy beam is approximately 4 times that of the traditional Gaussian beam along the axial direction while maintaining a narrow lateral width. Benefiting from its non-diffracting property, the microscopic imaging with Airy beam illumination can acquire image structures through turbid medium and capture a volumetric image in a single frame. We demonstrate the penetration ability of the Airy microscopic imaging through a strongly scattering environment with 633 nm and 780 nm lasers. The performances of the volumetric imaging method were evaluated using HeLa cells and isolated mouse kidney tissue. The thick sample was scanned layer by layer in the Gaussian mode, however, in the Airy mode, the three-dimensional (3D) structure information was projected onto a two-dimensional (2D) image, which vastly increased the volume imaging speed. To show the characteristics of the Airy microscope, we performed dynamic volumetric imaging on the isolated mouse kidney tissue with two-photon. Full article
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