Label-Free Characterization and Quantification of Mucosal Inflammation in Common Murine Colitis Models With Multiphoton Imaging

BACKGROUND

Clinical challenges in inflammatory bowel diseases require microscopic in vivo evaluation of inflammation. Here, label-free imaging holds great potential, and recently, our group demonstrated the advantage of using in vivo multiphoton endomicroscopy for longitudinal animal studies. This article extends our previous work by in-depth analysis of label-free tissue features in common colitis models quantified by the multiphoton colitis score (MCS).

METHODS

Fresh mucosal tissues were evaluated from acute and chronic dextran sulfate sodium (DSS), TNBS, oxazolone, and transfer colitis. Label-free imaging was performed by using second harmonic generation and natural autofluorescence. Morphological changes in mucosal crypts, collagen fibers, and cellularity in the stroma were analyzed and graded.

RESULTS

Our approach discriminated between healthy (mean MCS = 2.5) and inflamed tissue (mean MCS > 5) in all models, and the MCS was validated by hematoxylin and eosin scoring of the same samples (85.2% agreement). Moreover, specific characteristics of each phenotype were identified. While TNBS, oxazolone, and transfer colitis showed high cellularity in stroma, epithelial damage seemed specific for chronic, acute DSS and transfer colitis. Crypt deformations were mostly observed in acute DSS.

CONCLUSIONS

Quantification of label-free imaging is promising for in vivo endoscopy. In the future, this could be valuable for monitoring of inflammatory pathways in murine models, which is highly relevant for the development of new inflammatory bowel disease therapeutics.

Microanatomical Labeling of Germinal Center Structures for Flow Cytometry Using Photoactivation

Germinal centers (GCs) are inducible microanatomical structures required for the generation of high-affinity antibodies. Migration of B and T cells within and into/out of GCs plays a key role in the evolutionary process that underlies affinity maturation, and thus microanatomical location of cells is an important variable when studying GC processes. We describe a protocol in which in situ photoactivation by multiphoton microscopy can be used to add microanatomical information to flow cytometry, allowing for identification and isolation of GC cells based on their location. Cells in different microanatomical compartments can then be sorted and analyzed for surface marker and mRNA expression.