Department of Cancer Biology, Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA 94720, USA.
Integr Biol (Camb). 2009 Jan;1(1):80-9. doi: 10.1039/b816933k. Epub 2008 Dec 5.
We have built a novel computational microscopy platform that integrates image acquisition, storage, processing and analysis to study cell populations in situ. This platform allows high-content studies where multiple features are measured and linked at multiple scales. We used this approach to study the cellular composition and architecture of the mouse mammary gland by quantitatively tracking the distribution and type, position, proliferative state, and hormone receptor status of epithelial cells that incorporated bromodeoxyuridine while undergoing DNA synthesis during puberty and retained this label in the adult gland as a function of tissue structure. Immunofluorescence was used to identify label-retaining cells, as well as epithelial cells expressing the proteins progesterone receptor and P63. Only 3.6% of luminal cells were label-retaining cells, the majority of which did not express the progesterone receptor. Multi-scale in situ analysis revealed that luminal label-retaining cells have a distinct nuclear morphology, are enriched 3.4-fold in large ducts, and are distributed asymmetrically across the tissue. We postulated that LRC enriched in the ventral mammary gland represent progenitor cells. Epithelial cells isolated from the ventral versus the dorsal portion of the gland were enriched for the putative stem cell markers CD24 and CD49f as measured by fluorescence activated cell sorting. Thus, quantitative analysis of the cellular composition of the mammary epithelium across spatial scales identified a previously unrecognized architecture in which the ventral-most, large ducts contain a reservoir of undifferentiated, putative stem cells.
我们构建了一种新颖的计算显微镜平台,该平台集成了图像采集、存储、处理和分析功能,可用于原位研究细胞群体。该平台允许进行高内涵研究,可在多个尺度上测量和关联多个特征。我们使用这种方法来研究小鼠乳腺的细胞组成和结构,通过定量跟踪在青春期进行 DNA 合成时掺入溴脱氧尿苷的上皮细胞的分布和类型、位置、增殖状态以及激素受体状态,并将其在成年乳腺中的保留作为组织结构的函数。免疫荧光用于识别标记保留细胞,以及表达孕激素受体和 P63 蛋白的上皮细胞。只有 3.6%的腔细胞是标记保留细胞,其中大多数不表达孕激素受体。多尺度原位分析显示,腔标记保留细胞具有独特的核形态,在大导管中富集 3.4 倍,并且在组织中不对称分布。我们假设富含乳腺腹侧的 LRC 代表祖细胞。通过荧光激活细胞分选测量,从乳腺腹侧与背侧部分分离的上皮细胞富含假定的干细胞标记物 CD24 和 CD49f。因此,对乳腺上皮细胞在空间尺度上的细胞组成进行定量分析,确定了以前未被识别的结构,其中最腹侧的大导管包含未分化的、假定的干细胞储备。