scholarly journals Bridging length scales to measure polymer assembly

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1379-1388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Kaye ◽  
Tae Yeon Yoo ◽  
Peter J. Foster ◽  
Che-Hang Yu ◽  
Daniel J. Needleman

Time-resolvable quantitative measurements of polymer concentration are very useful to elucidate protein polymerization pathways. There are numerous techniques to measure polymer concentrations in purified protein solutions, but few are applicable in vivo. Here we develop a methodology combining microscopy and spectroscopy to overcome the limitations of both approaches for measuring polymer concentration in cells and cell extracts. This technique is based on quantifying the relationship between microscopy and spectroscopy measurements at many locations. We apply this methodology to measure microtubule assembly in tissue culture cells and Xenopus egg extracts using two-photon microscopy with FLIM measurements of FRET. We find that the relationship between FRET and two-photon intensity quantitatively agrees with predictions. Furthermore, FRET and intensity measurements change as expected with changes in acquisition time, labeling ratios, and polymer concentration. Taken together, these results demonstrate that this approach can quantitatively measure microtubule assembly in complex environments. This methodology should be broadly useful for studying microtubule nucleation and assembly pathways of other polymers.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hatim Belgharbi ◽  
Jonathan Poree ◽  
Rafat Damseh ◽  
Vincent Perrot ◽  
Patrick Delafontaine-Martel ◽  
...  

The resolution of 3D Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (ULM) is determined by acquisition parameters such as frequency and transducer geometry but also by microbubble (MB) concentration, which is also linked to the total acquisition time needed to sample the vascular tree at different scales. In this study, we introduce a novel 3D anatomically- and physiologically-realistic ULM simulation framework based on two-photon microscopy (2PM) and in-vivo MB perfusion dynamics. As a proof of concept, using metrics such as MB localization error, MB count and network filling, we could quantify the effect of MB concentration and PSF volume by varying probe transmit frequency (3-15 MHz). We find that while low frequencies can achieve sub-wavelength resolution as predicted by theory, they are also associated with prolonged acquisition times to map smaller vessels, thus limiting effective resolution. A linear relationship was found between maximal MB concentration and inverse point spread function (PSF) volume. Since inverse PSF volume roughly scales cubically with frequency, the reconstruction of the equivalent of 10 minutes at 15 MHz would require hours at 3 MHz. We expect that these findings can be leveraged to achieve effective reconstruction and serve as a guide for choosing optimal MB concentrations in ULM.


2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 1343-1404
Author(s):  
A Ghallab ◽  
R Reif ◽  
R Hassan ◽  
AS Seddek ◽  
JG Hengstler

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simeng Gu ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Kuan Zhang ◽  
Rou Feng ◽  
Naling Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Different effects of astrocyte during sleep and awake have been extensively studied, especially for metabolic clearance by the glymphatic system, which works during sleep and stops working during waking states. However, how astrocytes contribute to modulation of sensory transmission during sleep and awake animals remain largely unknown. Recent advances in genetically encoded Ca2+ indicators have provided a wealth of information on astrocytic Ca2+, especially in their fine perisynaptic processes, where astrocytic Ca2+ most likely affects the synaptic function. Here we use two-photon microscopy to image astrocytic Ca2+ signaling in freely moving mice trained to run on a wheel in combination with in vivo whole-cell recordings to evaluate the role of astrocytic Ca2+ signaling in different behavior states. We found that there are two kinds of astrocytic Ca2+ signaling: a small long-lasting Ca2+ increase during sleep state and a sharp widespread but short-long-lasting Ca2+ spike when the animal was awake (fluorescence increases were 23.2 ± 14.4% for whisker stimulation at sleep state, compared with 73.3 ± 11.7% for at awake state, paired t-test, p < 0.01). The small Ca2+ transients decreased extracellular K+, hyperpolarized the neurons, and suppressed sensory transmission; while the large Ca2+ wave enhanced sensory input, contributing to reliable sensory transmission in aroused states. Locus coeruleus activation works as a switch between these two kinds of astrocytic Ca2+ elevation. Thus, we show that cortical astrocytes play an important role in processing of sensory input. These two types of events appear to have different pharmacological sources and may play a different role in facilitating the efficacy of sensory transmission.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huwei Ni ◽  
Yalun Wang ◽  
Tao Tang ◽  
Wenbin Yu ◽  
Dongyu Li ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Bouchard ◽  
Svetlana Ruvinskya ◽  
David A. Boas ◽  
Elizabeth M. C. Hillman

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 260-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Czekalla ◽  
Karl-Heinz Schönborn ◽  
Nadine Döge ◽  
Sora Jung ◽  
Maxim E. Darvin ◽  
...  

2000 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 767-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Arnal ◽  
Eric Karsenti ◽  
Anthony A. Hyman

Microtubules are dynamically unstable polymers that interconvert stochastically between growing and shrinking states by the addition and loss of subunits from their ends. However, there is little experimental data on the relationship between microtubule end structure and the regulation of dynamic instability. To investigate this relationship, we have modulated dynamic instability in Xenopus egg extracts by adding a catastrophe-promoting factor, Op18/stathmin. Using electron cryomicroscopy, we find that microtubules in cytoplasmic extracts grow by the extension of a two- dimensional sheet of protofilaments, which later closes into a tube. Increasing the catastrophe frequency by the addition of Op18/stathmin decreases both the length and frequency of the occurrence of sheets and increases the number of frayed ends. Interestingly, we also find that more dynamic populations contain more blunt ends, suggesting that these are a metastable intermediate between shrinking and growing microtubules. Our results demonstrate for the first time that microtubule assembly in physiological conditions is a two-dimensional process, and they suggest that the two-dimensional sheets stabilize microtubules against catastrophes. We present a model in which the frequency of catastrophes is directly correlated with the structural state of microtubule ends.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (suppl_3) ◽  
pp. iii273-iii273
Author(s):  
M Piechutta ◽  
A S Berghoff ◽  
M A Karreman ◽  
K Gunkel ◽  
W Wick ◽  
...  

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (18) ◽  
pp. 2164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Radosevich ◽  
Matthew B. Bouchard ◽  
Sean A. Burgess ◽  
Brenda R. Chen ◽  
Elizabeth M. C. Hillman

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document