We have developed novel laboratory tools and protocols for intravital imaging acquisition of the thymus. Our technique should help in the identification of “niches” within the thymus where T cell development occurs.
Two-photon Microscopy (TPM) provides image acquisition in deep areas inside tissues and organs. In combination with the development of new stereotactic tools and surgical procedures, TPM becomes a powerful technique to identify “niches” inside organs and to document cellular “behaviors” in live animals. While intravital imaging provides information that best resembles the real cellular behavior inside the organ, it is both more laborious and technically demanding in terms of required equipment/procedures than alternative ex vivo imaging acquisition. Thus, we describe a surgical procedure and novel “stereotactic” organ holder that allows us to follow the movements of Foxp3+ cells within the thymus.
Foxp3 is the master regulator for the generation of regulatory T cells (Tregs). Moreover, these cells can be classified according to their origin: ie. thymus-differentiated Tregs are called “naturally-occurring Tregs” (nTregs), as opposed to peripherally-converted Tregs (pTregs). Although significant amount of research has been reported in the literature concerning the phenotype and physiology of these T cells, very little is known about their in vivo interactions with other cells. This deficiency may be due to the absence of techniques that would permit such observations. The protocol described in this paper provides a remedy for this situation.
Our protocol consists of using nude mice that lack an endogenous thymus since they have a punctual mutation in the DNA sequence that compromises the differentiation of some epithelial cells, including thymic epithelial cells. Nude mice were gamma-irradiated and reconstituted with bone marrows (BM) from Foxp3-KIgfp/gfp mice. After BM recovery (6 weeks), each animal received embryonic thymus transplantation inside the kidney capsule. After thymus acceptance (6 weeks), the animals were anesthetized; the kidney containing the transplanted thymus was exposed, fixed in our organ holder, and kept under physiological conditions for in vivo imaging by TPM. We have been using this approach to study the influence of drugs in the generation of regulatory T cells.
In this paper we demonstrated the procedures for two-photon imaging of thymocytes inside a living animal. We also described some parameters that one should carefully control, such as the continuation of blood flow and the maintenance of organ temperature during the imaging procedures. Nonetheless, despite careful efforts to keep the organ stable, motion artifacts such as “organ drifting” can occur. Posterior image correction can be performed by the development of algorithms specifically designed for this purpose. Further image analysis could also be the source of new protocols development which seeks to minimize errors.
The thymus is the organ where all T cells are produced and, therefore, it is the organ where immunologists interested in understanding the generation of γδ, CD4, or CD8 T cells will focus their attention. Most studies concerning T cells are based upon differences in the numbers and/or stability of these cells after different in vitro/in vivo manipulations. However, only after the in vivo visualization we could observe the interaction between cells of the immune system involved in maintaining homeostasis3-7. Therefore, the in vivo observation of thymocytes is probably one of the most important missing information to better understand T cell biology. Intravital TPM provides a detailed picture of T cell movements and interactions and we demonstrate here how it can be used for detailed thymocyte studies. However, every technique has its limitations. While intravital imaging acquisition is the most accurate system for reflecting cells behavior inside the body, it is also true that explanted image acquisition of organs is less laborious and has been used to collect important information about the immune system8,9. Moreover, one cannot deny intravital imaging methods require surgery to expose tissues and blood vessels in anesthetized animals, which per se could cause an alteration in the whole organ physiology10. Nevertheless, there are non-invasively methods that abolish the artifacts caused by the surgical procedure11 and new methods are being developed that better prepare in advance the animals to be used12. Therefore, new surgical procedures and tolls will minimize or bypass actual limitations of intravital imaging acquisition and become more and more accessible to the scientific community.
We have demonstrated that the method we have described is feasible and it reports all in vivo systemic manipulations, such drug administration, that we have used. Thus, we suggest the use of this method together with ex vivo techniques already available in order to complement and strengthen further studies concerning thymocytes development.
The authors have nothing to disclose.
We would like to thank Dr. David Olivieri for critical review of this manuscript, Dr. Nuno Moreno for the logistic help to build our animal holder and heating pads and Dr. Vijay K. Kuchroo for the kind donation of Foxp3-KIgfp/gfp mice. This work is supported by “Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia” (FCT, Portugal), grant # PTDC/EBB-BIO/115514/2009.
Name of the reagent | Company | Catalogue number | Comments |
Rhodamine B ishothiocyanate-Dextran | Sigma-Aldrich | R9379 | prepare stock at 20 mg/ml |
Two-photon microscope | Prairie Technologies Inc. | Prairie Ultima X-Y | |
Ti:Sapphire laser | Coherent, Inc. | Chameleon Ultra Family | |
20x/1.00 NA immersion objective | Olympus Inc. | XLUMPLFLN 20XW | |
Holder (Filters/Dichroic) | Chroma Technology Corp. | 91018 BX2 (U-MF2) | |
525 nm/50 filter | Chroma Technology Corp. | ET525/50m | |
595 nm/50 filter | Chroma Technology Corp. | ET595/50m | |
565 nm dichroic | Chroma Technology Corp. | 565dcxr | |
Imaris software | Bitplane AG Inc. | Imaris | |
Volocity | PerkinElmer Inc. | Volocity | |
ImageJ | NIH, USA | ImageJ |