Commentary - (2021)Volume 11, Issue 6
Molecular Imaging with A Bimodal Fluorescence-Raman Device
Johansen Michael*
*Correspondence:
Johansen Michael, Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas,
USA,
Email:
Author info »
Abstract
It's difficult to deny that live-cell imaging hasn't impacted our
perspective on biology. Over the last ten years, there has been a
surge in interest in imaging cellular activities at the molecular
level. Many innovative approaches are now being used in live cell
imaging. Cellular health, on the other hand, is frequently
overlooked. For many researchers, all is well if the cell does not
go into apoptosis or is blabbed beyond recognition at the end of
the experiment. This is completely false. When performing livecell
imaging, numerous aspects must be considered in order to
maintain cellular health, including imaging modalities, medium,
temperature, humidity, PH, osmolality, and photon dose. Two of
the most essential and controllable aspects of live-cell imaging
are the wavelength of illuminating light and the total photon
dose that the cells are subjected to. The lowest photon dose that
yields a metric for the experimental inquiry, rather than the dose
that provides cover photo grade photos, should be employed.
This is critical to guarantee that the biological processes being
studied are in their in vitro condition and have not been
switched to a different pathway as a result of environmental
stress. The timing of the mitosis is an ideal canary in the gold
mine, in that any stress induced from the imaging will result in
the increased length of mitosis, thus providing a control model
for the current imagining conditions.
Introduction
It's difficult to deny that live-cell imaging hasn't impacted our
perspective on biology. Over the last ten years, there has been a
surge in interest in imaging cellular activities at the molecular
level. Many innovative approaches are now being used in live cell
imaging. Cellular health, on the other hand, is frequently
overlooked. For many researchers, all is well if the cell does not
go into
apoptosis or is blabbed beyond recognition at the end of
the experiment. This is completely false. When performing livecell
imaging, numerous aspects must be considered in order to
maintain cellular health, including imaging modalities, medium,
temperature, humidity, PH, osmolality, and photon dose. Two of
the most essential and controllable aspects of live-cell imaging
are the wavelength of illuminating light and the total photon
dose that the
cells are subjected to. The lowest photon dose that
yields a metric for the experimental inquiry, rather than the dose
that provides cover photo grade photos, should be employed.
This is critical to guarantee that the biological processes being
studied are in their in vitro condition and have not been
switched to a different pathway as a result of environmental
stress. The timing of the mitosis is an ideal canary in the gold
mine, in that any stress induced from the imaging will result in
the increased length of mitosis, thus providing a control model
for the current imagining conditions.
Cellular Imaging
Among the most intriguing breakthroughs in
cell biology in the
last five years has been the implementation of nanoparticles.
Because the number of studies documenting the use of
nanoparticles is continuously rising, this review will focus solely
on applications of nanoparticles on entire cells, either fixed or
living, rather than the numerous strictly in vitro or in vivo
applications. The review's focus on
cells stems from the fact that
knowing nanoparticle-cell interactions is the first step toward a
mechanistic understanding of the relationship between animals
and nanomaterialâ??s. As a result, cellular investigations serve as a
prelude to nanoparticle utilization in in vivo medicinal or
imaging applications.
Nanoparticles applied to
cells and employed for imaging
subcellular components are of special relevance in this paper.
Although
cytotoxicity and the effects of nanoparticle loading on
cells are unimportant in fixed cells, nanoparticle
biocompatibility and cellular absorption processes are crucial in
live cell research. Nanoparticle toxicity/biocompatibility is most
often determined by their concentration, according to studies of
their impact on cellular proliferation and viability. Different
cellular uptake methods are used by
cells depending on the kind
of cell treated, the size, and the surface charge of the
nanoparticle conjugate (nanoconjugate), with the most common
being clathrin-dependent mechanisms, macro pinocytosis, and
phagocytosis.
The optically fluorescent semiconductor quantum dots and
noble metal nanoparticles with size and shape-dependent optical
characteristics are the subject of this review. Furthermore, a
distinct type of semiconductor materialâ??TiO2â??is given special
attention since it is easily functionalized by both optically
fluorescent agents and molecules for subcellular targeting.
Optical microscopy and electron microscopy are still two of the
most potent tools for detecting nanoparticles in cells. However,
complementing novel imaging techniques such as four-photon
microscopy, near-infrared surface enhanced Raman scattering, Xray
fluorescence micro- and nano-probe imaging, and coherent
X-ray diffraction imaging will greatly improve imaging work with
nanoparticles in cells. Some of the future developments with
these techniques are expected to allow for 3D imaging with
resolution as good as 5 nm3 voxel (coherent X-ray diffraction
imaging), permitting imaging of whole frozen
cells with the
nanoparticles distributed at specific destinations in the cellular
interior.
Author Info
Johansen Michael*
Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA
Published:
17-Nov-2021
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.