Departamento de Biofísica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Centro de Biotecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Biochem Soc Trans. 2022 Feb 28;50(1):513-527. doi: 10.1042/BST20210534.
Tracking individual cells has allowed a new understanding of cellular behavior in human health and disease by adding a dynamic component to the already complex heterogeneity of single cells. Technically, despite countless advances, numerous experimental variables can affect data collection and interpretation and need to be considered. In this review, we discuss the main technical aspects and biological findings in the analysis of the behavior of individual cells. We discuss the most relevant contributions provided by these approaches in clinically relevant human conditions like embryo development, stem cells biology, inflammation, cancer and microbiology, along with the cellular mechanisms and molecular pathways underlying these conditions. We also discuss the key technical aspects to be considered when planning and performing experiments involving the analysis of individual cells over long periods. Despite the challenges in automatic detection, features extraction and long-term tracking that need to be tackled, the potential impact of single-cell bioimaging is enormous in understanding the pathogenesis and development of new therapies in human pathophysiology.
追踪单个细胞通过为已经复杂的单细胞异质性增加动态成分，从而使人们对人类健康和疾病中的细胞行为有了新的认识。从技术上讲，尽管取得了无数的进步，但许多实验变量仍会影响数据的收集和解释，需要加以考虑。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了分析单个细胞行为的主要技术方面和生物学发现。我们讨论了这些方法在胚胎发育、干细胞生物学、炎症、癌症和微生物学等与临床相关的人类条件下的最相关贡献，以及这些条件下的细胞机制和分子途径。我们还讨论了在涉及分析单个细胞的实验的规划和执行中需要考虑的关键技术方面，这些实验需要长期进行。尽管需要解决自动检测、特征提取和长期跟踪方面的挑战，但单细胞生物成像在理解人类病理生理学中的发病机制和新疗法的发展方面具有巨大的潜在影响。
