scholarly journals Turn-key mapping of cell receptor force orientation and magnitude using a commercial structured illumination microscope

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Blanchard ◽  
J. Dale Combs ◽  
Joshua M. Brockman ◽  
Anna V. Kellner ◽  
Roxanne Glazier ◽  
...  

AbstractMany cellular processes, including cell division, development, and cell migration require spatially and temporally coordinated forces transduced by cell-surface receptors. Nucleic acid-based molecular tension probes allow one to visualize the piconewton (pN) forces applied by these receptors. Building on this technology, we recently developed molecular force microscopy (MFM) which uses fluorescence polarization to map receptor force orientation with diffraction-limited resolution (~250 nm). Here, we show that structured illumination microscopy (SIM), a super-resolution technique, can be used to perform super-resolution MFM. Using SIM-MFM, we generate the highest resolution maps of both the magnitude and orientation of the pN traction forces applied by cells. We apply SIM-MFM to map platelet and fibroblast integrin forces, as well as T cell receptor forces. Using SIM-MFM, we show that platelet traction force alignment occurs on a longer timescale than adhesion. Importantly, SIM-MFM can be implemented on any standard SIM microscope without hardware modifications.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Blanchard ◽  
J. Dale Combs ◽  
Joshua Brockman ◽  
Anna Kellner ◽  
Roxanne Glazier ◽  
...  

Abstract Many cellular processes, including cell division, development, and cell migration require spatially and temporally coordinated forces transduced by cell surface receptors. Nucleic acid-based molecular tension probes allow one to quantify and visualize the piconewton (pN) forces applied by these receptors. Building on this technology, we recently imaged DNA tension probes using fluorescence polarization imaging to map the magnitude and 3D orientation of receptor forces with diffraction limited resolution (~ 250 nm). Further improvements in spatial resolution are desirable as many force-sensing receptors are organized at the nano-scale in supramolecular complexes such as focal adhesions. Here, we show that structured illumination microscopy (SIM), a super-resolution technique, can be used to perform super-resolution molecular force microscopy (MFM). Using SIM-MFM, we generate the highest resolution maps of both the magnitude and orientation of the pN traction forces applied by cells. We apply SIM-MFM to map platelet and fibroblast integrins forces, as well as T cell receptor forces. The method reveals that platelets dynamically re-arrange the orientation of their integrin forces during activation. Monte Carlo simulations validated the results and provided analysis of the sources of noise. Importantly, we envision that SIM-MFM will be broadly adopted by the cell biology and mechanobiology communities because it can be implemented on any standard SIM microscope without hardware modifications.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Barbieri ◽  
Huw Colin-York ◽  
Kseniya Korobchevskaya ◽  
Di Li ◽  
Deanna L. Wolfson ◽  
...  

AbstractQuantifying small, rapidly evolving forces generated by cells is a major challenge for the understanding of biomechanics and mechanobiology in health and disease. Traction force microscopy remains one of the most broadly applied force probing technologies but typically restricts itself to slow events over seconds and micron-scale displacements. Here, we improve >2-fold spatially and >10-fold temporally the resolution of planar cellular force probing compared to its related conventional modalities by combining fast two-dimensional total internal reflection fluorescence super-resolution structured illumination microscopy and traction force microscopy. This live-cell 2D TIRF-SIM-TFM methodology offers a combination of spatio-temporal resolution enhancement relevant to forces on the nano- and sub-second scales, opening up new aspects of mechanobiology to analysis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 215 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sricharan Murugesan ◽  
Jinsung Hong ◽  
Jason Yi ◽  
Dong Li ◽  
Jordan R. Beach ◽  
...  

Actin assembly and inward flow in the plane of the immunological synapse (IS) drives the centralization of T cell receptor microclusters (TCR MCs) and the integrin leukocyte functional antigen 1 (LFA-1). Using structured-illumination microscopy (SIM), we show that actin arcs populating the medial, lamella-like region of the IS arise from linear actin filaments generated by one or more formins present at the IS distal edge. After traversing the outer, Arp2/3-generated, lamellipodia-like region of the IS, these linear filaments are organized by myosin II into antiparallel concentric arcs. Three-dimensional SIM shows that active LFA-1 often aligns with arcs, whereas TCR MCs commonly reside between arcs, and total internal reflection fluorescence SIM shows TCR MCs being swept inward by arcs. Consistently, disrupting actin arc formation via formin inhibition results in less centralized TCR MCs, missegregated integrin clusters, decreased T–B cell adhesion, and diminished TCR signaling. Together, our results define the origin, organization, and functional significance of a major actomyosin contractile structure at the IS that directly propels TCR MC transport.


Author(s):  
Kseniya Korobchevskaya ◽  
Huw Colin-York ◽  
Liliana Barbieri ◽  
Marco Fritzsche

Quantifying cell generated mechanical forces is key to furthering our understanding of mechanobiology. Traction force microscopy (TFM) is one of the most broadly applied force probing technologies, but its sensitivity is strictly dependent on the spatio-temporal resolution of the underlying imaging system. In previous works, it was demonstrated that increased sampling densities of cell derived forces permitted by super-resolution fluorescence imaging enhanced the sensitivity of the TFM method. However, these recent advances to TFM based on super-resolution techniques were limited to slow acquisition speeds and high illumination powers. Here, we present three novel TFM approaches that, in combination with total internal reflection, structured illumination microscopy and astigmatism, improve the spatial and temporal performance in either two-dimensional or three-dimensional mechanical force quantification, while maintaining low illumination powers. These three techniques can be straightforwardly implemented on a single optical set-up offering a powerful platform to provide new insights into the physiological force generation in a wide range of biological studies. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (part 1)'.


2020 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 331a
Author(s):  
Aaron Blanchard ◽  
Dale Combs ◽  
Joshua Brockman ◽  
Alexa L. Mattheyses ◽  
Khalid Salaita

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 2010
Author(s):  
Isotta Cainero ◽  
Elena Cerutti ◽  
Mario Faretta ◽  
Gaetano Ivan Dellino ◽  
Pier Giuseppe Pelicci ◽  
...  

Since the introduction of super-resolution microscopy, there has been growing interest in quantifying the nanoscale spatial distributions of fluorescent probes to better understand cellular processes and their interactions. One way to check if distributions are correlated or not is to perform colocalization analysis of multi-color acquisitions. Among all the possible methods available to study and quantify the colocalization between multicolor images, there is image cross-correlation spectroscopy (ICCS). The main advantage of ICCS, in comparison with other co-localization techniques, is that it does not require pre-segmentation of the sample into single objects. Here we show that the combination of structured illumination microscopy (SIM) with ICCS (SIM-ICCS) is a simple approach to quantify colocalization and measure nanoscale distances from multi-color SIM images. We validate the SIM-ICCS analysis on SIM images of optical nanorulers, DNA-origami-based model samples containing fluorophores of different colors at a distance of 80 nm. The SIM-ICCS analysis is compared with an object-based analysis performed on the same samples. Finally, we show that SIM-ICCS can be used to quantify the nanoscale spatial distribution of functional nuclear sites in fixed cells.


Nanophotonics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruslan Röhrich ◽  
A. Femius Koenderink

AbstractStructured illumination microscopy (SIM) is a well-established fluorescence imaging technique, which can increase spatial resolution by up to a factor of two. This article reports on a new way to extend the capabilities of structured illumination microscopy, by combining ideas from the fields of illumination engineering and nanophotonics. In this technique, plasmonic arrays of hexagonal symmetry are illuminated by two obliquely incident beams originating from a single laser. The resulting interference between the light grating and plasmonic grating creates a wide range of spatial frequencies above the microscope passband, while still preserving the spatial frequencies of regular SIM. To systematically investigate this technique and to contrast it with regular SIM and localized plasmon SIM, we implement a rigorous simulation procedure, which simulates the near-field illumination of the plasmonic grating and uses it in the subsequent forward imaging model. The inverse problem, of obtaining a super-resolution (SR) image from multiple low-resolution images, is solved using a numerical reconstruction algorithm while the obtained resolution is quantitatively assessed. The results point at the possibility of resolution enhancements beyond regular SIM, which rapidly vanishes with the height above the grating. In an initial experimental realization, the existence of the expected spatial frequencies is shown and the performance of compatible reconstruction approaches is compared. Finally, we discuss the obstacles of experimental implementations that would need to be overcome for artifact-free SR imaging.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gang Wen ◽  
Simin Li ◽  
Linbo Wang ◽  
Xiaohu Chen ◽  
Zhenglong Sun ◽  
...  

AbstractStructured illumination microscopy (SIM) has become a widely used tool for insight into biomedical challenges due to its rapid, long-term, and super-resolution (SR) imaging. However, artifacts that often appear in SIM images have long brought into question its fidelity, and might cause misinterpretation of biological structures. We present HiFi-SIM, a high-fidelity SIM reconstruction algorithm, by engineering the effective point spread function (PSF) into an ideal form. HiFi-SIM can effectively reduce commonly seen artifacts without loss of fine structures and improve the axial sectioning for samples with strong background. In particular, HiFi-SIM is not sensitive to the commonly used PSF and reconstruction parameters; hence, it lowers the requirements for dedicated PSF calibration and complicated parameter adjustment, thus promoting SIM as a daily imaging tool.


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