Farzad Fereidouni

Early BAFF receptor blockade mitigates murine Sjögren's syndrome: Concomitant targeting of CXCL13 and the BAFF receptor prevents salivary hypofunction.

Sjögrens syndrome (SS) is a debilitating autoimmune disease. Patients with SS may develop xerostomia. This process is progressive, and there are no therapeutics that target disease etiology. We hypothesized BAFF receptor (BAFFR) blockade would mitigate SS disease development, and neutralization of CXCL13 and BAFF signaling would be more efficacious than BAFFR blockade alone. We treated NOD/ShiLtJ SS mice with soluble BAFF receptor (BAFFR-Fc) or anti-CXCL13/BAFFR-Fc in combination, prior to the development of clinical disease. Our results show treatment with BAFFR-Fc reduced peripheral B cell numbers and decreased sialadenitis. In addition, this treatment reduced total serum immunoglobulin as well as IgG and IgM specific anti-nuclear autoantibodies. NOD/ShiLtJ mice treated with BAFFR-Fc and anti-CXCL13 antibody were protected from salivary deficits. Results from this study suggest blockade of CXCL13 and BAFFR together may be an effective therapeutic strategy in preventing salivary hypofunction and reducing autoantibody titers and sialadenitis in patients with SS.

Microscopy with UV Surface Excitation (MUSE) for slide-free histology and pathology imaging

A novel microscopy method that takes advantage of shallow photon penetration using ultraviolet-range excitation and exogenous fluorescent stains is described. This approach exploits the intrinsic optical sectioning function when exciting tissue fluorescence from superficial layers to generate images similar to those obtainable from a physically thinsectioned tissue specimen. UV light in the spectral range from roughly 240-275 nm penetrates only a few microns into the surface of biological specimens, thus eliminating out-of-focus signals that would otherwise arise from deeper tissue layers. Furthermore, UV excitation can be used to simultaneously excite fluorophores emitting across a wide spectral range. The sectioning property of the UV light (as opposed to more conventional illumination in the visible range) removes the need for physical or more elaborate optical sectioning approaches, such as confocal, nonlinear or coherent tomographic methods, to generate acceptable axial resolution. Using a tunable laser, we investigated the effect of excitation wavelength in the 230-350 nm spectral range on excitation depth. The results reveal an optimal wavelength range and suggest that this method can be a fast and reliable approach for rapid imaging of tissue specimens. Some of this range is addressable by currently available and relatively inexpensive LED light sources. MUSE may prove to be a good alternative to conventional, time-consuming, histopathology procedures.

Microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation for rapid slide-free histology

Histological examination of tissues is central to the diagnosis and management of neoplasms and many other diseases and is a foundational technique for preclinical and basic research. However, commonly used bright-field microscopy requires prior preparation of micrometre-thick tissue sections mounted on glass slides—a process that can require hours or days, contributes to cost and delays access to critical information. Here, we introduce a simple, non-destructive slide-free technique that, within minutes, provides high-resolution diagnostic histological images resembling those obtained from conventional haematoxylin and eosin histology. The approach, which we named microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation (MUSE), can also generate shape and colour-contrast information. MUSE relies on ~280 nm ultraviolet light to restrict the excitation of conventional fluorescent stains to tissue surfaces and it has no significant effects on downstream molecular assays (including fluorescence in situ hybridization and RNA sequencing). MUSE promises to improve the speed and efficiency of patient care in both state-of-the-art and low-resource settings and to provide opportunities for rapid histology in research.A slide-free, inexpensive and non-destructive microscopy technique rapidly provides high-resolution histology images that resemble those obtained from conventional haematoxylin-and-eosin-stained specimens.Histological examination of tissues is central to the diagnosis and management of neoplasms and many other diseases and is a foundational technique for preclinical and basic research. However, commonly used bright-field microscopy requires prior preparation of micrometre-thick tissue sections mounted on glass slides-a process that can require hours or days, contributes to cost and delays access to critical information. Here, we introduce a simple, non-destructive slide-free technique that, within minutes, provides high-resolution diagnostic histological images resembling those obtained from conventional haematoxylin and eosin histology. The approach, which we named microscopy with ultraviolet surface excitation (MUSE), can also generate shape and colour-contrast information. MUSE relies on ~280 nm ultraviolet light to restrict the excitation of conventional fluorescent stains to tissue surfaces and it has no significant effects on downstream molecular assays (including fluorescence in situ hybridization and RNA sequencing). MUSE promises to improve the speed and efficiency of patient care in both state-of-the-art and low-resource settings and to provide opportunities for rapid histology in research.

Using spectral decomposition of the signals from laurdan-derived probes to evaluate the physical state of membranes in live cells

Background: We wanted to investigate the physical state of biological membranes in live cells under the most physiological conditions possible. Methods: For this we have been using laurdan, C-laurdan or M-laurdan to label a variety of cells, and a biphoton microscope equipped with both a thermostatic chamber and a spectral analyser. We also used a flow cytometer to quantify the 450/530 nm ratio of fluorescence emissions by whole cells. Results: We find that using all the information provided by spectral analysis to perform spectral decomposition dramatically improves the imaging resolution compared to using just two channels, as commonly used to calculate generalized polarisation (GP). Coupled to a new plugin called Fraction Mapper, developed to represent the fraction of light intensity in the first component in a stack of two images, we obtain very clear pictures of both the intra-cellular distribution of the probes, and the polarity of the cellular environments where the lipid probes are localised. Our results lead us to conclude that, in live cells kept at 37°C, laurdan, and M-laurdan to a lesser extent, have a strong tendency to accumulate in the very apolar environment of intra-cytoplasmic lipid droplets, but label the plasma membrane (PM) of mammalian cells ineffectively. On the other hand, C-laurdan labels the PM very quickly and effectively, and does not detectably accumulate in lipid droplets. Conclusions: From using these probes on a variety of mammalian cell lines, as well as on cells from Drosophila and Dictyostelium discoideum, we conclude that, apart from the lipid droplets, which are very apolar, probes in intracellular membranes reveal a relatively polar and hydrated environment, suggesting a very marked dominance of liquid disordered states. PMs, on the other hand, are much more apolar, suggesting a strong dominance of liquid ordered state, which fits with their high sterol contents.

Time-resolved spectral imaging: better photon economy, higher accuracy

Lifetime and spectral imaging are complementary techniques that offer a non-invasive solution for monitoring metabolic processes, identifying biochemical compounds, and characterizing their interactions in biological tissues, among other tasks. Newly developed instruments that perform time-resolved spectral imaging can provide even more information and reach higher sensitivity than either modality alone. Here we report a multispectral lifetime imaging system based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), capable of operating at high photon count rates (12 MHz) per spectral detection channel, and with time resolution of 200 ps. We performed error analyses to investigate the effect of gate width and spectral-channel width on the accuracy of estimated lifetimes and spectral widths. Temporal and spectral phasors were used for analysis of recorded data, and we demonstrated blind un-mixing of the fluorescent components using information from both modalities. Fractional intensities, spectra, and decay curves of components were extracted without need for prior information. We further tested this approach with fluorescently doubly-labeled DNA, and demonstrated its suitability for accurately estimating FRET efficiency in the presence of either non-interacting or interacting donor molecules.

Multispectral analysis tools can increase utility of RGB color images in histology

Multispectral imaging (MSI) is increasingly finding application in the study and characterization of biological specimens. However, the methods typically used come with challenges on both the acquisition and the analysis front. MSI can be slow and photon-inefficient, leading to long imaging times and possible phototoxicity and photobleaching. The resulting datasets can be large and complex, prompting the development of a number of mathematical approaches for segmentation and signal unmixing. We show that under certain circumstances, just three spectral channels provided by standard color cameras, coupled with multispectral analysis tools, including a more recent spectral phasor approach, can efficiently provide useful insights. These findings are supported with a mathematical model relating spectral bandwidth and spectral channel number to achievable spectral accuracy. The utility of 3-band RGB and MSI analysis tools are demonstrated on images acquired using brightfield and fluorescence techniques, as well as a novel microscopy approach employing UV-surface excitation. Supervised linear unmixing, automated non-negative matrix factorization and phasor analysis tools all provide useful results, with phasors generating particularly helpful spectral display plots for sample exploration.

Microscopy with UV surface excitation (MUSE): Rapid, simple, slide-free histology

MUSE rapidly creates high-resolution, histology images from thick specimens using off-axis 280-nm UV excitation and exogenous dyes. These emit in their usual visible range; the resulting images can be captured using ordinary lenses and color cameras.

Spectral Unmixing Methods and Tools for the Detection and Quantitation of Collagen and Other Macromolecules in Tissue Specimens

Collagen and other components in the extracellular matrix are proving of increasing importance for the understanding of complex cell and tissue interactions in a variety of settings. Detection and quantitation of these components can still prove challenging, and a number of techniques have been developed. We focus here on methods in fluorescence-based assessments, including multiplexed immunodetection and the use of simpler histochemical stains, both complemented by linear unmixing techniques. Typically, differentiating these components requires the use of a set of optical filters to isolate each fluorescent compound from each other and from often bright background autofluorescence signals. However, standard fluorescent microscopes are usually only able to separate a limited number of components. If the emission spectra of the fluorophores are spectrally distinct, but overlapping, sophisticated spectral imaging or computational methods can be used to optimize separation and quantitation. This chapter describes spectral unmixing methodology and associated open-source software tools available to analyze multispectral as well as simple color (RGB) images.

Slide-free histology via MUSE: UV surface excitation microscopy for imaging unsectioned tissue(Conference Presentation)

Widely used methods for preparing and viewing tissue specimens at microscopic resolution have not changed for over a century. They provide high-quality images but can involve time-frames of hours or even weeks, depending on logistics. There is increasing interest in slide-free methods for rapid tissue analysis that can both decrease turn-around times and reduce costs. One new approach is MUSE (microscopy with UV surface excitation), which exploits the shallow penetration of UV light to excite fluorescent signals from only the most superficial tissue elements. The method is non-destructive, and eliminates requirement for conventional histology processing, formalin fixation, paraffin embedding, or thin sectioning. It requires no lasers, confocal, multiphoton or optical coherence tomography optics. MUSE generates diagnostic-quality histological images that can be rendered to resemble conventional hematoxylin- and eosin-stained samples, with enhanced topographical information, from fresh or fixed, but unsectioned tissue, rapidly, with high resolution, simply and inexpensively. We anticipate that there could be widespread adoption in research facilities, hospital-based and stand-alone clinical settings, in local or regional pathology labs, as well as in low-resource environments.

Slide-Free Microscopy via UV Surface Excitation

Microscopic evaluation of tissue remains the definitive diagnostic procedure in the evaluation of most solid tumors, as well as of many other disease processes. Conventional brightfield or fluorescence microscopy works best with thin, stained specimens mounted on glass slides, but to prepare these requires hours of processing and the help of highly skilled technical personnel. We describe a new, inexpensive form of light microscopy, based on UV surface excitation (MUSE), that can generate highquality histology and histopathology images directly from cut surfaces of fresh (or fixed) tissue samples of any thickness, with less than 1 minute of preparation. Unlike standard diagnostic processes, it is nondestructive, preserving the specimen for downstream molecular analyses. Preliminary description of this method, which depends on the shallow tissue penetration of sub-300-nm light, can be found in [1].