Microscopic imaging has been used for years to distinguish different cell types that can provide insight into the disease process. In this way, up to five different cell types can be distinguished and imaged using existing microscopic techniques. For this purpose, use is made of substances that provide the relevant cell types with a different color. This one new ones Microscopic innovation works, simply put, like a prism.
Microscopic innovation
Distinguishing as many different cell types as possible is an important precondition for a better understanding of the development of diseases. After all, many different types of cells are involved in many disease processes. With the new microscopic technique of Maastricht University it is possible to simultaneously image up to fifteen different cell types.
The new microscopic technique uses multispectral microscopy for this. In doing so, the cells are viewed in the same way as light shining through a prism shows all the colors of the rainbow. With that technique, the different cells are represented as a unique combination of different colors. This gives researchers and doctors much more and more precise information about the cell types that make up a particular tissue.
Cell communities
The new method is able to determine the location of any cell type in the tissue. In addition, it also shows which cell types are located in each other’s vicinity, the so-called cell communities. It is known that cell types that are close to each other also influence each other. An example of this are inflammatory cells. When they are in the tumor tissue, they counteract the defenses of tumor cells. Something that, of course, can have major negative consequences on the course of the disease.
“We can now investigate how certain cell types communicate with each other and whether they are involved in the disease process. “, says Pieter Goossens, UM researcher (Experimental Vascular Pathology). This allows researchers to map the molecular environment of the cells and its influence on their behaviour. “That offers starting points for medical treatment,” says the researcher. The first findings of the new method are now available published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism.
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