Watching stem cells in the skin of living mice noninvasively

Cell Cycle. 2011 Jun 15;10(12):2017-20. doi: 10.4161/cc.10.12.15895. Epub 2011 Jun 15.

Abstract

We demonstrate noninvasive, high-resolution multiphoton tomography of nestin-expressing stem cells of hair follicles in living transgenic nude mice. An imaging system comprised of a compact femtosecond laser, 3D scan head mounted on a flexible mechano-optical articulated arm for simultaneous intra-tissue fluorescence and second harmonic detection (SHG) detection was used. This noninvasive method enables long-term in vivo tracking of intra-tissue stem cells in living animals. Multiphoton animal sectioning with subcellular resolution can visualize the real-time behavior of single stem cells in their native tissue microenvironment.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Equipment Design
  • Intermediate Filament Proteins
  • Lasers
  • Mice
  • Mice, Nude
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nestin
  • Skin / cytology*
  • Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Tomography / instrumentation*

Substances

  • Intermediate Filament Proteins
  • Nerve Tissue Proteins
  • Nes protein, mouse
  • Nestin