1
|
Kaczmarczyk O, Augustyniak D, Żak A. Imaging of Hydrated and Living Cells in Transmission Electron Microscope: Summary, Challenges, and Perspectives. ACS NANO 2025; 19:12710-12733. [PMID: 40156542 PMCID: PMC11984313 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c00871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2025] [Revised: 03/11/2025] [Accepted: 03/13/2025] [Indexed: 04/01/2025]
Abstract
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is well-known for performing in situ studies in the nanoscale. Hence, scientists took this opportunity to explore the subtle processes occurring in living organisms. Nevertheless, such observations are complex─they require delicate samples kept in the liquid phase, low electron dose, and proper cell viability verification methods. Despite being highly demanding, so-called "live-cell" experiments have seen some degree of success. The presented review consists of an exhaustive literature review on reported "live-cell" studies and associated subjects, including liquid phase imaging, electron radiation interactions with liquids, and methods for cell viability testing. The challenges of modern, reliable research on living organisms are widely explained and discussed, and future perspectives for developing these techniques are presented.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Olga Kaczmarczyk
- Institute
of Advanced Materials, Wroclaw University
of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Daria Augustyniak
- Department
of Pathogen Biology and Immunology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Wroclaw, 51-148 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Andrzej Żak
- Institute
of Advanced Materials, Wroclaw University
of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
- Department
of Material Science and Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Science and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Wu H, Friedrich H, Patterson JP, Sommerdijk NAJM, de Jonge N. Liquid-Phase Electron Microscopy for Soft Matter Science and Biology. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2020; 32:e2001582. [PMID: 32419161 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202001582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 04/05/2020] [Accepted: 04/06/2020] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Innovations in liquid-phase electron microscopy (LP-EM) have made it possible to perform experiments at the optimized conditions needed to examine soft matter. The main obstacle is conducting experiments in such a way that electron beam radiation can be used to obtain answers for scientific questions without changing the structure and (bio)chemical processes in the sample due to the influence of the radiation. By overcoming these experimental difficulties at least partially, LP-EM has evolved into a new microscopy method with nanometer spatial resolution and sub-second temporal resolution for analysis of soft matter in materials science and biology. Both experimental design and applications of LP-EM for soft matter materials science and biological research are reviewed, and a perspective of possible future directions is given.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hanglong Wu
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Heiner Friedrich
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Joseph P Patterson
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
| | - Nico A J M Sommerdijk
- Department of Biochemistry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands
| | - Niels de Jonge
- INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, 66123, Germany
- Department of Physics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, 66123, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Alansary D, Peckys DB, Niemeyer BA, de Jonge N. Detecting single ORAI1 proteins within the plasma membrane reveals higher-order channel complexes. J Cell Sci 2020; 133:jcs.240358. [PMID: 31822631 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.240358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
ORAI1 proteins form highly selective Ca2+ channels in the plasma membrane. Crystallographic data point towards a hexameric stoichiometry of ORAI1 channels, whereas optical methods postulated ORAI1 channels to reside as dimers at rest, and other data suggests that they have a tetrameric configuration. Here, liquid-phase scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and quantum dot (QD) labeling was utilized to study the conformation of ORAI1 proteins at rest. To address the question of whether ORAI1 was present as a dimer, experiments were designed using single ORAI1 monomers and covalently linked ORAI1 dimers with either one or two label-binding positions. The microscopic data was statistically analyzed via the pair correlation function. Label pairs were found in all cases, even for concatenated dimers with one label-binding position, which is only possible if a significant fraction of ORAI1 was assembled in larger order oligomers than dimers, binding at least two QDs. This interpretation of the data was consistent with Blue Native PAGE analysis showing that ORAI1 is mainly present as a complex of an apparent molecular mass larger than that calculated for a dimer.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dalia Alansary
- Molecular Biophysics, University of Saarland, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Diana B Peckys
- Molecular Biophysics, University of Saarland, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Barbara A Niemeyer
- Molecular Biophysics, University of Saarland, Center for Integrative Physiology and Molecular Medicine, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany
| | - Niels de Jonge
- INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany .,Department of Physics, University of Saarland, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Ando T, Bhamidimarri SP, Brending N, Colin-York H, Collinson L, De Jonge N, de Pablo PJ, Debroye E, Eggeling C, Franck C, Fritzsche M, Gerritsen H, Giepmans BNG, Grunewald K, Hofkens J, Hoogenboom JP, Janssen KPF, Kaufman R, Klumpermann J, Kurniawan N, Kusch J, Liv N, Parekh V, Peckys DB, Rehfeldt F, Reutens DC, Roeffaers MBJ, Salditt T, Schaap IAT, Schwarz US, Verkade P, Vogel MW, Wagner R, Winterhalter M, Yuan H, Zifarelli G. The 2018 correlative microscopy techniques roadmap. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D: APPLIED PHYSICS 2018; 51:443001. [PMID: 30799880 PMCID: PMC6372154 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/aad055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2018] [Revised: 06/14/2018] [Accepted: 07/01/2018] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Developments in microscopy have been instrumental to progress in the life sciences, and many new techniques have been introduced and led to new discoveries throughout the last century. A wide and diverse range of methodologies is now available, including electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, small-angle x-ray scattering and multiple super-resolution fluorescence techniques, and each of these methods provides valuable read-outs to meet the demands set by the samples under study. Yet, the investigation of cell development requires a multi-parametric approach to address both the structure and spatio-temporal organization of organelles, and also the transduction of chemical signals and forces involved in cell-cell interactions. Although the microscopy technologies for observing each of these characteristics are well developed, none of them can offer read-out of all characteristics simultaneously, which limits the information content of a measurement. For example, while electron microscopy is able to disclose the structural layout of cells and the macromolecular arrangement of proteins, it cannot directly follow dynamics in living cells. The latter can be achieved with fluorescence microscopy which, however, requires labelling and lacks spatial resolution. A remedy is to combine and correlate different readouts from the same specimen, which opens new avenues to understand structure-function relations in biomedical research. At the same time, such correlative approaches pose new challenges concerning sample preparation, instrument stability, region of interest retrieval, and data analysis. Because the field of correlative microscopy is relatively young, the capabilities of the various approaches have yet to be fully explored, and uncertainties remain when considering the best choice of strategy and workflow for the correlative experiment. With this in mind, the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics presents a special roadmap on the correlative microscopy techniques, giving a comprehensive overview from various leading scientists in this field, via a collection of multiple short viewpoints.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Toshio Ando
- Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan
| | | | | | - H Colin-York
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headley Way, OX3 9DS Oxford, United Kingdom
| | | | - Niels De Jonge
- INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - P J de Pablo
- Dpto. Física de la Materia Condensada Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 28049, Madrid, Spain
- Instituto de Física de la Materia Condensada IFIMAC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Elke Debroye
- KU Leuven, Department of Chemistry, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
| | - Christian Eggeling
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headley Way, OX3 9DS Oxford, United Kingdom
- Institute of Applied Optics, Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology (IPHT), Jena, Germany
| | - Christian Franck
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1513 University Ave, Madison, WI 53706, United States of America
| | - Marco Fritzsche
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Headley Way, OX3 9DS Oxford, United Kingdom
- Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Hans Gerritsen
- Debye Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Ben N G Giepmans
- Department of Cell Biology, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Kay Grunewald
- Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Centre of Structural Systems Biology Hamburg and University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Heinrich-Pette-Institute, Leibniz Institute of Virology, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Johan Hofkens
- KU Leuven, Department of Chemistry, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
| | | | | | - Rainer Kaufman
- Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Centre of Structural Systems Biology Hamburg and University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Judith Klumpermann
- Section Cell Biology, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584CX Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Nyoman Kurniawan
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | | | - Nalan Liv
- Section Cell Biology, Center for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584CX Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Viha Parekh
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Diana B Peckys
- Faculty of Medicine, Saarland University, 66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Florian Rehfeldt
- University of Göttingen, Third Institute of Physics-Biophysics, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - David C Reutens
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | | | - Tim Salditt
- University of Göttingen, Institute for X-Ray Physics, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Iwan A T Schaap
- SmarAct GmbH, Schütte-Lanz-Str. 9, D-26135 Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Ulrich S Schwarz
- Institute for Theoretical Physics and BioQuant, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Paul Verkade
- School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Michael W Vogel
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Richard Wagner
- Department of Life Sciences & Chemistry, Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany
| | | | - Haifeng Yuan
- KU Leuven, Department of Chemistry, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
| | - Giovanni Zifarelli
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Peckys DB, Korf U, Wiemann S, de Jonge N. Liquid-phase electron microscopy of molecular drug response in breast cancer cells reveals irresponsive cell subpopulations related to lack of HER2 homodimers. Mol Biol Cell 2017; 28:mbc.E17-06-0381. [PMID: 28794264 PMCID: PMC5687022 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e17-06-0381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Revised: 07/27/2017] [Accepted: 08/01/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of drug resistance in cancer poses a major clinical problem. An example is human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) overexpressing breast cancer often treated with anti-HER2 antibody therapies, such as trastuzumab. Since drug resistance is rooted mainly in tumor cell heterogeneity, we examined the drug effect in different subpopulations of SKBR3 breast cancer cells, and compared the results with a drug resistant cell line, HCC1954. Correlative light microscopy and liquid-phase scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) were used to quantitatively analyze HER2 responses upon drug binding, whereby many tens of whole cells were imaged. Trastuzumab was found to selectively cross-link and down regulate HER2 homodimers from the plasma membranes of bulk cancer cells. In contrast, HER2 resided mainly as monomers in rare subpopulations of resting- and cancer stem cells (CSCs), and these monomers were not internalized after drug binding. The HER2 distribution was hardly influenced by trastuzumab for the HCC1954 cells. These findings show that resting cells and CSCs are irresponsive to the drug, and thus point towards a molecular explanation behind the origin of drug resistance. This analytical method is broadly applicable to study membrane protein interactions in the intact plasma membrane, while accounting for cell heterogeneity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Diana B Peckys
- Department of Biophysics, Saarland University, D-66421 Homburg, Germany
| | - Ulrike Korf
- Division of Molecular Genome Analysis, German Cancer Research Center, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Stefan Wiemann
- Division of Molecular Genome Analysis, German Cancer Research Center, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Niels de Jonge
- INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
- Department of Physics, Saarland University, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany
| |
Collapse
|