Convergence Medicine Research Center, Asan Institute for Life Sciences, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Department Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, 05505, Republic of Korea.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2022 Jan 8;587:42-48. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2021.11.084. Epub 2021 Nov 29.
Optical diffraction tomography (ODT), an emerging imaging technique that does not require fluorescent staining, can measure the three-dimensional distribution of the refractive index (RI) of organelles. In this study, we used ODT to characterize the pathological characteristics of human eosinophils derived from asthma patients presenting with eosinophilia. In addition to morphological information about organelles appearing in eosinophils, including the cytoplasm, nucleus, and vacuole, we succeeded in imaging specific granules and quantifying the RI values of the granules. Interestingly, ODT analysis showed that the RI (i.e., molecular density) of granules was significantly different between eosinophils from asthma patients and healthy individuals without eosinophilia, and that vacuoles were frequently found in the cells of asthma patients. Our results suggest that the physicochemical properties of eosinophils derived from patients with asthma can be quantitatively distinguished from those of healthy individuals. The method will provide insight into efficient evaluation of the characteristics of eosinophils at the organelle level for various diseases with eosinophilia.
光学衍射层析成像（ODT）是一种新兴的成像技术，不需要荧光染色，可以测量细胞器的三维折射率（RI）分布。在这项研究中，我们使用 ODT 来描述哮喘患者嗜酸性粒细胞的病理特征，这些患者的嗜酸性粒细胞增多。除了可以获得细胞内细胞器（包括细胞质、细胞核和空泡）的形态信息外，我们还成功地对特异性颗粒进行了成像，并对颗粒的 RI 值进行了定量。有趣的是，ODT 分析表明，哮喘患者的嗜酸性粒细胞与不伴有嗜酸性粒细胞增多的健康个体的嗜酸性粒细胞的颗粒 RI（即分子密度）存在显著差异，并且哮喘患者的细胞中经常发现空泡。我们的结果表明，哮喘患者来源的嗜酸性粒细胞的理化性质可以与健康个体的嗜酸性粒细胞区分开来。该方法将为各种伴有嗜酸性粒细胞增多的疾病提供在细胞器水平上有效评估嗜酸性粒细胞特征的见解。
