Image3C, a multimodal image-based and label-independent integrative method for single-cell analysis

Clodronate Liposome-Mediated Phagocytic Hemocyte Depletion Affects the Regeneration of the Cephalic Tentacle of the Invasive Snail, Pomacea canaliculata

After amputation, granular hemocytes infiltrate the blastema of regenerating cephalic tentacles of the freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata. Here, the circulating phagocytic hemocytes were chemically depleted by injecting the snails with clodronate liposomes, and the effects on the cephalic tentacle regeneration onset and on Pc-Hemocyanin, Pc-transglutaminase (Pc-TG) and Pc-Allograft Inflammatory Factor-1 (Pc-AIF-1) gene expressions were investigated. Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated that clodronate liposomes targeted large circulating hemocytes, resulting in a transient decrease in their number. Corresponding with the phagocyte depletion, tentacle regeneration onset was halted, and it resumed at the expected pace when clodronate liposome effects were no longer visible. In addition to the regeneration progress, the expressions of Pc-Hemocyanin, Pc-TG, and Pc-AIF-1, which are markers of hemocyte-mediated functions like oxygen transport and immunity, clotting, and inflammation, were modified. After the injection of clodronate liposomes, a specific computer-assisted image analysis protocol still evidenced the presence of granular hemocytes in the tentacle blastema. This is consistent with reports indicating the large and agranular hemocyte population as the most represented among the professional phagocytes of P. canaliculata and with the hypothesis that different hemocyte morphologies could exert diverse biological functions, as it has been observed in other invertebrates.

Establishment, Long-Term Maintenance, and Characterization of Primary Liver Cells from Astyanax mexicanus

The tetra fish species Astyanax mexicanus comprises two morphotypes: cavefish that live in caves and surface fish that inhabit rivers and lakes. Because cavefish have adapted to the nutrient-poor conditions in their habitat whereas the surface fish populations can be used as a proxy for the ancestral condition, this species has become a powerful model system for understanding genetic variation underlying metabolic adaptation. The liver plays a critical role in glucose and fat metabolism in the body and hence is an important tissue for studying altered metabolism in health and disease. Cavefish morphs of A. mexicanus have been shown to develop fatty livers and exhibit massive differences in gene expression and chromatin architecture. Primary cell lines from various tissues have become invaluable tools for biochemical, toxicology, and cell biology experiments, as well as genetic and genomic analyses. To enhance the utility of the model system by enabling an expanded set of biochemical and in vitro experiments, we developed protocols for the isolation and maintenance of primary liver cells from A. mexicanus surface fish and cavefish. We also describe methods that can be used for primary cell characterization, including cloning, characterization of cell growth pattern, and lentivirus transduction. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Primary culture of liver cells Support Protocol 1: Maintenance of A. mexicanus primary liver cells Support Protocol 2: Banking of A. mexicanus primary liver cells Support Protocol 3: Recovery of A. mexicanus primary liver cells Support Protocol 4: Primary liver cell cloning Support Protocol 5: Characterization of A. mexicanus primary liver cell growth pattern Basic Protocol 2: Lentiviral transduction of A. mexicanus primary liver cells.

Developing and validating a highly sensitive platelet clump detection model for the Sysmex haematology analyser

BACKGROUND

Mainstream haematology analysers (HAs) are reported to have low detection sensitivity for platelet clumps. In this study, a deep learning (DL) algorithm, convolutional neural network (CNN), was implemented to detect platelet clumps.

METHODS

Adenosine diphosphate (ADP) was used to induce platelet aggregation to mimic platelet clumps detected (PCD) samples. Six types of leukocyte scattergrams were collected from the Sysmex XN-10. Then, multiple CNNs were trained and validated by scattergrams in a fivefold cross-validation (CV) method. Finally, the CNN model with the best CV accuracy was tested with practical routine work samples.

RESULTS

A total of 386 samples (190 PCD and 196 negative samples) and 4253 samples (150 PCD and 4103 negative samples) were eligible for CNN training and practical test, respectively. The CNN with the highest CV accuracy was trained by using scattergrams of side scatter (SSC) vs. forward scatter (FSC) from the white count and nucleated red blood cells (WNR) channel, whose mean area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, specificity and sensitivity were 0.968, 0.940, 0.937 and 0.942, respectively, in the CV. In the practical test, the AUC, accuracy, specificity and sensitivity of the CNN were 0.916, 0.961, 0.860 and 0.965, respectively. The dispersed spots presenting around the leucocytes in the WNR channel may be a sign of platelet clumping.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that the CNN algorithms can identify platelet clumps based on optical information from dedicated leukocyte channels and has a higher ability to detect platelet clumps than the XN-10 device's internal algorithm under practical circumstances.

A Call For More Ecologically And Evolutionarily Relevant Studies of Immune Costs

What are the relative costs and benefits of mounting immune responses? Practitioners of ecoimmunology have grappled with this central question since the field's inception with the main tension being how to make tractable methodological choices that maintain the ecological relevance of induced and measured immune costs. Here, we point out two methodological approaches that we feel are underrepresented in the field, describe risks associated with neglecting these methods, and suggest modern techniques that maximize both the diversity and ecological relevance of collected data. First, it is commonly assumed that frequently used and experimentally convenient immune stimulants will induce ecologically relevant immune responses in study organisms. This can be a dangerous assumption. Even if a stimulant's general immune response properties are well characterized, it is critical to also measure the type and scale of immune responses induced by live pathogens. Second, patterns of immune defenses evolve like other traits, thus a comparative approach is essential to understand what forces shape immune variation. Finally, we describe modern genetic and immunological approaches that will soon become essential tools for ecoimmunologists, and present case studies that exemplify the utility of our recommendations.