Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum, A Leibniz Institute, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
Immune Dynamics, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2017 Dec 18;8(1):2153. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01538-9.
The bone marrow is a central organ of the immune system, which hosts complex interactions of bone and immune compartments critical for hematopoiesis, immunological memory, and bone regeneration. Although these processes take place over months, most existing imaging techniques allow us to follow snapshots of only a few hours, at subcellular resolution. Here, we develop a microendoscopic multi-photon imaging approach called LIMB (longitudinal intravital imaging of the bone marrow) to analyze cellular dynamics within the deep marrow. The approach consists of a biocompatible plate surgically fixated to the mouse femur containing a gradient refractive index lens. This microendoscope allows highly resolved imaging, repeatedly at the same regions within marrow tissue, over months. LIMB reveals extensive vascular plasticity during bone healing and steady-state homeostasis. To our knowledge, this vascular plasticity is unique among mammalian tissues, and we expect this insight will decisively change our understanding of essential phenomena occurring within the bone marrow.
骨髓是免疫系统的一个核心器官，它容纳了骨骼和免疫组织之间的复杂相互作用，这些相互作用对于造血、免疫记忆和骨骼再生至关重要。尽管这些过程需要数月的时间，但大多数现有的成像技术只能在亚细胞分辨率下，捕捉到几个小时的瞬间。在这里，我们开发了一种名为 LIMB（骨髓的纵向活体成像）的微内窥镜多光子成像方法，用于分析深层骨髓中的细胞动力学。该方法包括一个手术固定在小鼠股骨上的生物相容性板，其中包含一个梯度折射率透镜。这种微内窥镜可以在数月的时间里，在骨髓组织的同一区域进行高分辨率成像，并可重复进行。LIMB 揭示了骨骼愈合和稳态平衡过程中广泛的血管可塑性。据我们所知，这种血管可塑性在哺乳动物组织中是独一无二的，我们期望这一见解将彻底改变我们对骨髓内发生的基本现象的理解。
