Measurement of 3-Dimensional cAMP Distributions in Living Cells using 4-Dimensional (x, y, z, and λ) Hyperspectral FRET Imaging and Analysis

Summary

Due to inherent low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of Fӧrster resonance energy transfer (FRET) based sensors, measurement of cAMP signals has been challenging, especially in three spatial dimensions. Here, we describe a hyperspectral FRET imaging and analysis methodology that allows measurement of cAMP distribution in three spatial dimensions.

Abstract

Cyclic AMP is a second messenger that is involved in a wide range of cellular and physiological activities. Several studies suggest that cAMP signals are compartmentalized, and that compartmentalization contributes to signaling specificity within the cAMP signaling pathway. The development of Fӧrster resonance energy transfer (FRET) based biosensors has furthered the ability to measure and visualize cAMP signals in cells. However, these measurements are often confined to two spatial dimensions, which may result in misinterpretation of data. To date, there have been only very limited measurements of cAMP signals in three spatial dimensions (x, y, and z), due to the technical limitations in using FRET sensors that inherently exhibit low signal to noise ratio (SNR). In addition, traditional filter-based imaging approaches are often ineffective for accurate measurement of cAMP signals in localized subcellular regions due to a range of factors, including spectral crosstalk, limited signal strength, and autofluorescence. To overcome these limitations and allow FRET-based biosensors to be used with multiple fluorophores, we have developed hyperspectral FRET imaging and analysis approaches that provide spectral specificity for calculating FRET efficiencies and the ability to spectrally separate FRET signals from confounding autofluorescence and/or signals from additional fluorescent labels. Here, we present the methodology for implementing hyperspectral FRET imaging as well as the need to construct an appropriate spectral library that is neither undersampled nor oversampled to perform spectral unmixing. While we present this methodology for measurement of three-dimensional cAMP distributions in pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs), this methodology could be used to study spatial distributions of cAMP in a range of cell types.

Introduction

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is a second messenger involved in key cellular and physiological processes including cell division, calcium influx, gene transcription, and signal transduction. A growing body of evidence suggests the existence of cAMP compartments in the cell through which signaling specificity is achieved^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}. Until recently, cAMP compartmentalization was inferred based upon distinct physiological or cellul....

Protocol

This protocol follows procedures approved by the University of South Alabama Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

1. Cell, sample, and reagent preparation for imaging

1. Isolate rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) as described previously³⁵.
   NOTE: Cells were isolated and cultured by the Cell Culture Core at the University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL on 100 mm cell culture dishes.
2. Seed isolated PMVECs on 25 mm round glass coverslips and let them grow in the incubator at 37 °C until cells attain at least 80% confluency (at least 24 hours).
   NOTE: Cells and cell typ....

Results

This protocol describes the use of hyperspectral FRET imaging and analysis approaches to measure cAMP gradients in three spatial dimensions in living cells. There are several key steps involved in generating these results, for which careful attention is required while analyzing and quantifying the data. These key steps include construction of an appropriate spectral library, background spectral unmixing, thresholding to identify cell borders, and FRET efficiency calculations. Figure 1 illust.......

Discussion

The development of FRET biosensors has allowed the measurement and visualization of cyclic nucleotide signals in single cells, and there is great promise for visualizing subcellular signaling events^13,22,37,38. However, the use of FRET biosensors presents several limitations, including the low signal-to-noise characteristics of many fluorescent protein-based FRET reporters and the weak transfec.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Attofluor Cell Chamber	Invitrogen	A7816	Attofluor contains steel cell chambers and a rubber O-ring. Cell chamber holds the coverslip and O-ring provides a lock in mechanism to hold the buffer in cell chamber with out leakage
Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO)	Fisher Scientific	BP231-100	Solvent used to prepare stock solution forskolin.
DRAQ5 Fluoroscent Probe Solution	Thermo Scientific	62252	Nuclear label
Dulbecco Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM)	Gibco	11965-092	Contains nutrients and growth factors for the cells to grow and divide in the culture dishes.
Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS)	Sigma	F6178	Growth factor suppliment that is added to culture medium, DMEM
Forskolin	Sigma	F3917	Adenyly cyclase activator.
H188 Cyclic AMP FRET biosensor	Netherland Cancer Institute, Dr. K. Jalink	Gift	Plasmid encoding Turquoise (donor fluorophore), Venus (acceptor fluorophore), and binding domain obtained from Epac.
Image J	image.net	Free download	Another image processing platform used to extact spectral information and image processing.
Integrating Sphere	Ocean Optics	FOIS-1	Used to measure illumination intensity of the laser line at different laser intensities (?).
Laminin Mouse Protein, Natural	Invitrogen	23017-015	Coverslips are coated with laminin and this helps in cell attachment, growth and motility of the cell.
Lipofectamine 3000 Transfection Kit	Invitrogen	L3000-015	Transfection reagent used to transfect cells with H188 FRET biosensor
MATLAB	Mathworks	R2019a	Image processing operations (linear unmixing and FRET efficiency calculations) are performed by writing custom programs in MATLAB programming environment
Nikon A1R confocal microscope	Nikon Instruments	Nikon A1R	Spectral image acquisition is performed using confocal microscope.
Nikon Elements Software	Nikon Instruments	Software dongle	used to export and handle nd2 image files (multidimensional image files) that are aquired using Nikon A1R
NIST-Traceable Calibration Lamp	Ocean Optics	LS-1-CAL-INT	A lamp with a known spectrum for use as a standard
PBS pH 7.4 (1X)	Gibco	10010-023	coomonly used buffer suring cell culture
Pulmonary Microvascular Endothelial Cells (PMVECs)	In house - Cell culture core, Univeristy of South Alabama	Isolated from Rat pulmonary microvasculature	PMVECs form inner lining of a blood vessel.
Penicillin-Streptomycin (10,000 U/ml)	Gibco	15140-122	antibiotics are added to culture medum to prevent contamination of the cells.
Pre-Cleaned Gold Seal Micro Slides	Clay Adams	3010	Microscope slides used for cell fixation
ProLong Diamond Antifade Mounting Media	Invitrogen	P36961	If samples are fixed using antifade mountant, then the later protects fluoroscent dyes and chromophores from fading.
Spectrometer	Ocean Optics	QE65000	Used to measure spectral response of the light source (?)
Trypsin-EDTA (0.25%)	Gibco	25200-056	Digests the protein-protein bond between the cell and cell matrix and helps to disscociate and lift the cells during cell plating.
Tyrodes Buffer	Made in-house	Made in-house	Tyrodes buffer is used to make working solutions and to maintain cells in aqueous solution during image acquisition.
6 Well Cell Culture Plate	Corning	3506	Laminin coated coverslips are placed in 6-well culture dish (one coverlisps/well). Cells along with medium is added into each well.
25 mm Round Microscope Cover Slips	Fisher Scientific	12545102	Cells were grown on round glass coverslips
60X Ojective	Nikon Instruments	Plan Apo VC 60X/1.2 WI ∞/0.15-0.18 WD 0.27	water immersion and commonly used objective for cells