Liao Shan, Jones Dennis, Cheng Gang, Padera Timothy P
Edwin L. Steele Laboratories for Tumor Biology, Department of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02114.
J Biol Methods. 2014;1(2). doi: 10.14440/jbm.2014.26.
Collecting lymphatic vessels are critical for the transport of lymph and its cellular contents to lymph nodes for both immune surveillance and the maintenance of tissue-fluid balance. Collecting lymphatic vessels drive lymph flow by autonomous contraction of smooth muscle cells that cover these vessels. Here we describe methods using intravital microscopy to image and quantify collecting lymphatic vessel contraction in mice. Our methods allow for the measurement of the strength of lymphatic contraction of an individual lymphangion in a mouse, which has not yet been demonstrated using other published methods. The ability to study murine collecting lymphatic vessel contraction-using the methods described here or other recently published techniques-allows the field to dissect the molecular mechanisms controlling lymphatic pumping under normal and pathological conditions using the wide variety of molecular tools and genetic models available in the mouse. We have used our methods to study lymphatic contraction in physiological and inflammatory conditions. The methods described here will facilitate the further study of lymphatic function in other pathological conditions that feature lymphatic complications.
集合淋巴管对于将淋巴及其细胞成分输送至淋巴结以进行免疫监视和维持组织液平衡至关重要。集合淋巴管通过覆盖这些血管的平滑肌细胞的自主收缩来驱动淋巴流动。在这里，我们描述了使用活体显微镜成像和量化小鼠集合淋巴管收缩的方法。我们的方法能够测量小鼠单个淋巴管节段的淋巴收缩强度，这是其他已发表方法尚未实现的。使用本文所述方法或其他最近发表的技术来研究小鼠集合淋巴管收缩，使该领域能够利用小鼠中可用的各种分子工具和遗传模型，剖析正常和病理条件下控制淋巴泵血的分子机制。我们已使用我们的方法研究生理和炎症条件下的淋巴收缩。本文所述方法将有助于进一步研究其他具有淋巴并发症特征的病理条件下的淋巴功能。
