Dual excitation fluorescence imaging has been used as a first step towards multi-wavelength excitation/emission fluorescence spectral imaging. Target cells are transformed keratinocytes, and other osteosarcoma, human breast and color cancer cells. Mitochondrial membrane potential probes, e.g. TMRM (tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester), Mitotracker Green (Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene OR,USA) and a recently synthesized mitochondrial oxygen probe, [PRE,P1"- pyrene butyl)-2-rhodamine ester] allow dual excitation in the UV plus in teh blue-green spectral regions. Also, using the natural endogenous probe NAD(P)H, preliminary results indicate mitochondrial responses to metabolic challenges (e.g. glucose addition), plus changes in mitochonrial distribution and morphology. In terms of application to biomedicine (for diagnostiscs, prognostsics and drug trials) three parameters have been selected in addition to the natural probe NAD(P)H, i.e. vital fluorescence probing of mitochondria, lysosomes and Golgi apparatus. It is hoped that such a multiparameter approach will allow malignant cell characterization and grading. A new area being introduced is the use of similar methodology for biotechnical applications such as the study of the hydrogen-producing alga Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii, and possible agricultural applications, such as Saccharomyces yeast for oenology. Complementation by Photoacoustic Microscopy is also contemplated, to study the internal conversion component which follows the excitation by photons.
The advantages of measuring both the excitation spectrum and emission spectrum of living cells' fluorescence are reviewed together with interferometric methods. Mitochondria in yeast cells are described as examples of Biomedical methods, also including mammalian cells. Mitochondria in human hepatic cells, murine mast cells and human keratinocytes are shown using the vital stains DASPMI, Mitotracker Green and TMRE. An example in Biotechnology is the study of photosynthetic algae, used in the production of hydrogen.
In cell biology, one of the great mysteries, which has bene only superficially 8investigate,d is the integration of cytoplasmic and nuclear organelles as part of the intracellular regulatory mechanism. The methodology used for the exploration of such intracellular processes is the pixel-by-pixel scanning by means of fluorescence spectral imaging and excitation emission fluorescence spectroscopy. While several of the steps required by this method are still in the process of implementation, the Michelson interferometer, the Sagnac interferometer and the related 'pentaferometer' are possible components of the instrumental design. One of the illustrative experimental models to begin the study of intracellular integrative processes is based on the hypothesis of a 'nuclear pump' in conjunction with cell treatment by chemotherapeutic agents such as adriamycin. Preliminary observations initiated in cultured fibroblasts, and to be pursued in Cloudman's melanoma cells, suggest that this cytotoxic agent first moves into the nucleus, form which it is subsequently ejected to be incorporated into the lysosomes and Golgi apparatus, possibly prior to exclusion via the multiple drug resistance pathway. The timetable of such a process is under investigation. This subject has obvious implications for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic studies of organelles integration.
Two intracellular fluorochromes, NAD(P)H and Schiff Bases, provide monitoring of energy metabolism and photoperoxidations. Fluorochrome spectra and topographic distribution are measured in a microspectrofluorometer, pixel by pixel using a CCD. The mitochondrial arrangement of Saccharomyces cerevisie and metabolic activity at nuclear kidney epithelial sites is revealed. A kind of accelerated photoaging results in the accumulation of Schiff pigment. Schiff base emission is red-shifted, and it may be preceded by photo-oxidation of NAD(P)H. UVA production of oxygen radicals and peroxides may influence detoxification, senescence and/or transformation. Besides lysosomes, mitochondrial energy metabolism and ER and Golgi detoxification are open to study as multi-organelle complexes with fluorescent xenobiotics and probes. Melanocytes vs. melanoma cells in culture will be investigated using a new compact interferometer for Fourier coding of both emission and excitation spectra. Surprisingly, the photographic method, using the highest sensitivity films, may sometimes produce excellent structural detail. However, for kinetic studies, the CCD, or equivalent, is required. There is good potential for applications in diagnostics and prognostics plus the evaluation of new biopharmeceuticals.
The basic principle of this approach relies on microspectrofluorometric observations of upheavals in the cell's energy metabolism and cell-to-cell metabolic communication in human and mouse melanoma cells. A striking feature is the definition of a highly active nuclear energy metabolism in M8255 human melanoma cells which is characterized by an intense fluorescence response associated with NAD(P) reduction by substrates of glycolysis or the hexose monophosphate shunt. Changes are also expected in the steady state levels of reduced/oxidized NAD(P) in the nuclear, cytoplasmic and mitochondrial compartments, which are probably dependent on ATP levels and distribution (as determined by cell metabolism and eventually the presence of ATP traps). A topographic scanning of skin lesions, either under metabolic steady state conditions or in the presence of permeating substrates, can lead to the recognition of characteristic patterns associated with pigmented and nonpigmented, malignant and nonmalignant skin lesions. The method is, in a way, an extension of microscopic transillumination techniques which have led to the identification of specific patterns associated with such lesions. However, here, a new dimension is added by introduction of fluorescence evaluations. This can represent the first step in a multiparameter approach to the non-invasive in situ fluorescence scan of dermatological lesions by inclusion of: (1) fluorescence excitation and emission spectra; (2) new fluorescence probes of cytoplasmic organelles and nuclear components. Primary emphasis should be placed on the highly active nuclear energy metabolism, which can be triggered to maximum levels when the role of mitochondria as the `cells's policeman' with regard to metabolic control is suppressed by use of topically cytotoxic agents such as the `antipsoriatic' anthralin and dicarboxylic acids used in the local treatment of melanoma. Fluorescence excitation spectroscopy may be of particular advantage in studies with the new highly sensitive cyanine nucleic acid dyes and their dimers, but caution should be exerted in the use of such compounds because of cytotoxicity (e.g., limiting it to cellular studies used in the interpretation of dermatological findings). Parallel cellular and non-invasive dermatological studies will help to define the most specific set of parameters to be used in diagnostic and prognostic evaluations of skin lesions.
Microspectrofluorometry has been used in conjunction with fluorescence micrography for metabolic control analysis in normal and genetically deficient human fibroblasts, as well as human melanoma cells. These studies point to the role of mitochondria as the `cell's policeman' with regard to metabolic control. Cytotoxic agents active on mitochondrial structure and function (i.e. anthralin, azelaic acid) produce an unleashing of extramitochondrial pathways characterized by large and out-of-control NAD(P)H transients elicited by microinjected substrates. An interesting aspect has been the demonstration of an active nuclear energy metabolism, by NAD(P)H fluorescence excited at 365 nm, which may help to link cell bioenergetics to gene expression in the eukaryotes by the use of DNA probes. The metabolic control analysis of cell bioenergetics has been extended to the pathways involved in the cell's handling of cytotoxic agents. Non invasive fluorescence equipment offers possibilities for diagnostics and therapeutics in dermatology. Structure and function studies can be carried out at considerably enhanced resolution and with on-line interpretation by introducing scanning nearfield optics microscopy (SNOM) and real-time interactive parameter experimentation control (RIPEC).
The study of primary photobiological processes on the basis of structure-activity relationship is important for a better understanding of drug phototoxicity. An ideal approach for the understanding of the phototoxic response is provided by the study of drugs purposely used in photochemotherapeuties for which the determination of primary photochemical targets is a prerequisite for the investigation of the phototherapeutic action. For instance, in the so-called 'photodynamic therapy' of cancers, the photodynamic properties of porphyrins more or less specifically localized in tumors are responsible for their photocytotoxicity. Microfluorometry and particularly microspectrofluorometry are powerful non invasive techniques for carrying out quantitative photobiological investigations in real time in single living cells. This approach allows one to monitor the drug localization, to follow the drug fate, and to study photosensitized events in living cells. We illustrate some aspects of such investigations with photofrin II, a mixture of porphyrins currently used in phase III clinical trials, and other porphyrins including protoporphyrin which is encountered in genetic and drug-induced cutaneous porphyrias. To demonstrate the usefulness of microspectrofluorometry in such studies, we present data on the photosensitizer localization, on the photosensitizer photobleaching, and on structural or functional photosensitized damage to organelles.
The topographic analysis of fluorescence distribution has been carried out pixel-by-pixel by one dimensional, two-dimensional microspectrofluorometry and three-dimensional confocal fluorescence microscopy. Fluorescence emission spectra of NAD(P)H and benzo(a)pyrene (or metabolites) were recorded at different excitation wavelengths. Cell bioenergetics are monitored in normal and malignant cells as well as cells with genetic defects by coenzyme responses to microinjections of substrates and modifiers from key metabolic pathways in presence and absence of inhibitors and drugs active on mitochondrial structure and function. Cooperative interactions between organelles involved in detoxification mechanisms are observed in cells treated with fluorescent cytotoxic agents. Such interactions can be directly mapped by the fluorescence of cytotoxic agents, their reaction products or vital probes such as NBD ceramide for the Golgi apparatus. To identify the organelles involved parallel electron microscopic studies are carried out in cells first treated with the cytotoxic agent and then incubated with an electron opaque material. A recently developed combined X-ray laser microscope (COXRALM) holds the promise of carrying out combined phase-fluorescence-and X-ray microscopic observations of fluorescence and ultrastructural correlations in live cell probing. As further versatility is gained in such methods it may become possible to obtain a very detailed structure and function mapping of living cells within the context of cytomatrix analysis, metabolic compartmentation and organelle interactions.
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