Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids

Hundreds of commercially available fluorescent dyes are used to quantify a wide range of biological functions of cells in culture, and their use has been a mainstay of basic research, toxicity testing, and drug discovery. However, nearly all of these dyes have been optimized for use on cells culture...

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Main Authors: Elizabeth Leary, Claire Rhee, Benjamin Wilks, Jeffrey R. Morgan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2016-11-01
Series:BioTechniques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/000114472
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author Elizabeth Leary
Claire Rhee
Benjamin Wilks
Jeffrey R. Morgan
author_facet Elizabeth Leary
Claire Rhee
Benjamin Wilks
Jeffrey R. Morgan
author_sort Elizabeth Leary
collection DOAJ
description Hundreds of commercially available fluorescent dyes are used to quantify a wide range of biological functions of cells in culture, and their use has been a mainstay of basic research, toxicity testing, and drug discovery. However, nearly all of these dyes have been optimized for use on cells cultured as two-dimensional monolayers. Three-dimensional culture systems more accurately recapitulate native tissues, but their size and complexity present a new set of challenges for the use of fluorescent dyes, especially with regards to accurate quantitation. We determined the most accurate method to quantify fluorescence as a function of whether cells were uniformly labeled with dye prior to spheroid formation or if the dye was diffused into the spheroid after its formation. Using multicellular spheroids labeled with calcein-AM via these two different staining methods, we performed time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. For uniformly labeled spheroids, fluorescence was best normalized to volume, whereas for spheroids labeled via dye diffusion, fluorescence was best normalized to surface area. This framework for evaluating dyes can easily be extended to other applications. Utilizing the appropriate size-based normalization strategy enhanced our ability to detect statistically significant differences between experimental conditions.
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spelling doaj-art-e58ab0f13eea4bb8b765bfcaf42a74c32025-08-20T02:25:50ZengTaylor & Francis GroupBioTechniques0736-62051940-98182016-11-0161523724710.2144/000114472Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroidsElizabeth Leary0Claire Rhee1Benjamin Wilks2Jeffrey R. Morgan31Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, Providence, RI1Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, Providence, RI1Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, Providence, RI1Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology, Providence, RIHundreds of commercially available fluorescent dyes are used to quantify a wide range of biological functions of cells in culture, and their use has been a mainstay of basic research, toxicity testing, and drug discovery. However, nearly all of these dyes have been optimized for use on cells cultured as two-dimensional monolayers. Three-dimensional culture systems more accurately recapitulate native tissues, but their size and complexity present a new set of challenges for the use of fluorescent dyes, especially with regards to accurate quantitation. We determined the most accurate method to quantify fluorescence as a function of whether cells were uniformly labeled with dye prior to spheroid formation or if the dye was diffused into the spheroid after its formation. Using multicellular spheroids labeled with calcein-AM via these two different staining methods, we performed time-lapse fluorescence microscopy. For uniformly labeled spheroids, fluorescence was best normalized to volume, whereas for spheroids labeled via dye diffusion, fluorescence was best normalized to surface area. This framework for evaluating dyes can easily be extended to other applications. Utilizing the appropriate size-based normalization strategy enhanced our ability to detect statistically significant differences between experimental conditions.https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/000114472spheroidsquantitative image analysislive cell imagingepi-fluorescencecalcein-AM
spellingShingle Elizabeth Leary
Claire Rhee
Benjamin Wilks
Jeffrey R. Morgan
Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
BioTechniques
spheroids
quantitative image analysis
live cell imaging
epi-fluorescence
calcein-AM
title Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
title_full Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
title_fullStr Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
title_full_unstemmed Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
title_short Accurate quantitative wide-field fluorescence microscopy of 3-D spheroids
title_sort accurate quantitative wide field fluorescence microscopy of 3 d spheroids
topic spheroids
quantitative image analysis
live cell imaging
epi-fluorescence
calcein-AM
url https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/000114472
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AT benjaminwilks accuratequantitativewidefieldfluorescencemicroscopyof3dspheroids
AT jeffreyrmorgan accuratequantitativewidefieldfluorescencemicroscopyof3dspheroids