Department of Hepatology & Gastroenterology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Department of Hepatology & Gastroenterology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Gut. 2024 Jul 11;73(8):1364-1375. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2023-331739.
Inflammation is a critical component of most acute and chronic liver diseases. The liver is a unique immunological organ with a dense vascular network, leading to intense crosstalk between tissue-resident immune cells, passenger leucocytes and parenchymal cells. During acute and chronic liver diseases, the multifaceted immune response is involved in disease promoting and repair mechanisms, while upholding core liver immune functions. In recent years, single-cell technologies have unravelled a previously unknown heterogeneity of immune cells, reshaping the complexity of the hepatic immune response. However, inflammation is a dynamic biological process, encompassing various immune cells, orchestrated in temporal and spatial dimensions, and driven by multiorgan signals. Intravital microscopy (IVM) has emerged as a powerful tool to investigate immunity by visualising the dynamic interplay between different immune cells and their surroundings within a near-natural environment. In this review, we summarise the experimental considerations to perform IVM and highlight recent technological developments. Furthermore, we outline the unique contributions of IVM to our understanding of liver immunity. Through the lens of liver disease, we discuss novel immune-mediated disease mechanisms uncovered by imaging-based studies.
炎症是大多数急性和慢性肝病的关键组成部分。肝脏是一个具有密集血管网络的独特免疫器官，导致组织驻留免疫细胞、过客白细胞和实质细胞之间的强烈串扰。在急性和慢性肝病中，多方面的免疫反应参与疾病促进和修复机制，同时维持核心肝脏免疫功能。近年来，单细胞技术揭示了免疫细胞以前未知的异质性，重塑了肝脏免疫反应的复杂性。然而，炎症是一个动态的生物学过程，包含各种免疫细胞，在时间和空间上进行协调，并受多器官信号的驱动。活体显微镜（IVM）的出现为通过可视化不同免疫细胞及其在近乎自然环境中的周围环境之间的动态相互作用来研究免疫提供了一种强大的工具。在这篇综述中，我们总结了进行 IVM 的实验考虑因素，并强调了最近的技术发展。此外，我们概述了 IVM 对我们理解肝脏免疫的独特贡献。通过肝病的视角，我们讨论了成像研究揭示的新的免疫介导的疾病机制。
