Dataset Information

High-throughput BioSorter quantification of relative mitochondrial content and membrane potential in living Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial respiratory chain disease is caused by a wide range of individually rare genetic disorders that impair cellular energy metabolism. While fluorescence microscopy analysis of nematodes fed MitoTracker Green (MTG) and tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) can reliably quantify relative mitochondrial density and membrane potential, respectively, in C. elegans models of mitochondrial dysfunction, it is a tedious process with limitations in the number and age of animals that can be studied. A novel, large particle, flow cytometry-based method reported here accelerates and automates the relative quantitation of mitochondrial physiology in nematode populations. Relative fluorescence profiles of nematode populations co-labeled with MTG and TMRE were obtained and analyzed by BioSorter (Union Biometrica). Variables tested included genetic mutation (wild-type N2 Bristol versus nuclear-encoded respiratory chain complex I mutant gas-1(fc21) worms), animal age (day 1 versus day 4 adults), classical respiratory chain inhibitor and uncoupler effects (oligomycin, FCCP), and pharmacologic therapy duration (24h versus 96h treatments with glucose or nicotinic acid). A custom MATLAB script, which can be run on any computer with MATLAB runtime, was written to automatically quantify and analyze results in large animal populations. BioSorter analysis independently validated relative MTG and TMRE changes that we had previously performed by fluorescence microscopy in a variety of experimental conditions, with notably greater animal population sizes and substantially reduced experimental time. Older, fragile animal populations that are difficult to study by microscopy approaches were readily amenable to analysis with the BioSorter method. Overall, this high-throughput method enables efficient relative quantitation of in vivo mitochondrial physiology over time in a living animal in response to gene mutations and candidate therapies, which can be used to accelerate the translation of basic research into optimization of clinical therapies for mitochondrial disease.

SUBMITTER: Kwon YJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5858966 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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High-throughput BioSorter quantification of relative mitochondrial content and membrane potential in living Caenorhabditis elegans.

Kwon Young Joon YJ Guha Sujay S Tuluc Florin F Falk Marni J MJ

Mitochondrion 20171003

Mitochondrial respiratory chain disease is caused by a wide range of individually rare genetic disorders that impair cellular energy metabolism. While fluorescence microscopy analysis of nematodes fed MitoTracker Green (MTG) and tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) can reliably quantify relative mitochondrial density and membrane potential, respectively, in C. elegans models of mitochondrial dysfunction, it is a tedious process with limitations in the number and age of animals that can be stu ...[more]

PMID: 28986305

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Project description:Understanding the processes of mitochondrial dynamics (fission, fusion, biogenesis, and mitophagy) has been hampered by the lack of automated, deterministic methods to measure mitochondrial morphology from microscopic images. A method to quantify mitochondrial morphology and function is presented here using a commercially available automated high-content wide-field fluorescent microscopy platform and R programming-language-based semi-automated data analysis to achieve high throughput morphological categorization (puncta, rod, network, and large & round) and quantification of mitochondrial membrane potential. In conjunction with cellular respirometry to measure mitochondrial respiratory capacity, this method detected that increasing concentrations of toxicants known to directly or indirectly affect mitochondria (t-butyl hydroperoxide [TBHP], rotenone, antimycin A, oligomycin, ouabain, and carbonyl cyanide-p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone [FCCP]), decreased mitochondrial networked areas in cultured 661w cells to 0.60-0.80 at concentrations that inhibited respiratory capacity to 0.20-0.70 (fold change compared to vehicle). Concomitantly, mitochondrial swelling was increased from 1.4- to 2.3-fold of vehicle as indicated by changes in large & round areas in response to TBHP, oligomycin, or ouabain. Finally, the automated identification of mitochondrial location enabled accurate quantification of mitochondrial membrane potential by measuring intramitochondrial tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester (TMRM) fluorescence intensity. Administration of FCCP depolarized and administration of oligomycin hyperpolarized mitochondria, as evidenced by changes in intramitochondrial TMRM fluorescence intensities to 0.33- or 5.25-fold of vehicle control values, respectively. In summary, this high-content imaging method accurately quantified mitochondrial morphology and membrane potential in hundreds of thousands of cells on a per-cell basis, with sufficient throughput for pharmacological or toxicological evaluation.

Dataset Information

High-throughput BioSorter quantification of relative mitochondrial content and membrane potential in living Caenorhabditis elegans.

Publications

High-throughput BioSorter quantification of relative mitochondrial content and membrane potential in living Caenorhabditis elegans.

Similar Datasets

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