This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: How do cells respond to drugs? A new microscopy technique could provide more precise answers to this question in the future.
Researchers from Bielefeld University and the University of Vienna have developed a method as part of the European CHEM-SCAN project that makes the smallest cellular structures visible while also showing how their molecular environment changes. The results have been published in the journal Optica. "By combining super-resolution with fluorescence lifetime measurements, we can not only see where certain molecules are located within a cell.
We also gain information about the molecular environment in which they are located," says Dr. Henning Ortkraß, one of the authors of the study and a member of the research group led by CHEM-SCAN project coordinator professor Thomas Huser. The researchers combine two techniques: structured illumination microscopy (SIM) makes cellular structures visible that are too small to be resolved by conventional light microscopes.
Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), meanwhile, measures how long fluorescent molecules emit light. This lifetime can change depending on their molecular environment, for example, due to changes in pH. Until now, it has only been possible to combine this information to a limited extent with high-resolution microscopy.
The new FLIM-SIM technique now combines high spatial resolution, fast imaging rates and a large field of view. The researchers demonstrated these capabilities using a human bone cancer cell line. The project is investigating how chemotherapeutic agents used in cancer treatment can be adapted to act as effectively as possible on both tumors and the metastases that arise from them.
To investigate efficacy, researchers use specialized fluorescent dyes that, with the aid of FLIM measurements, provide information on the state of cancer cells. The better researchers can observe what drugs trigger inside individual cells, the more precisely they can investigate their effects and potential harmful effects. The new microscopy technique could therefore help improve our understanding of how drugs act at the cellular level and provide a basis for new approaches in biomedical research.
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