Abstract
Fluorescent dyes have been used as “nanosensors” for visualization and determination of various processes occurring inside a cell, or intracellular events, such as cell cycle progression and intracellular trafficking. Here, we describe a novel use of acridine orange to visualize lysosomes and discriminate cells with healthy lysosomes from cells with damaged lysosomes in two different types of mammalian cells: fibroblasts and macrophages. This method allows assessment of lysosomal membrane integrity upon exposure to various foreign particles, i.e., engineered nanoparticles. The uniqueness of this method enables investigators to acquire fluorescent images with a dye that is susceptible to photo-bleaching under UV light. These acquired images bolster the quantitative data, providing a visual representation of the cell morphology as well as assess its nucleus and lysosomes.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Brugger W, Mocklin W, Heinfeld S et al (1993) Ex vivo expansion of enriched peripheral blood CD34+ progenitor cells by stem cell factor, interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-6, IL-3, interferon gamma, and erythropoietin. Blood 81:2579–2584
Li N, Zheng Y, Chen W et al (2007) Adaptor protein LAPF recruits phosphorylated p53 to lysosomes and triggers lysosomal destabilization in apoptosis. Cancer Res 67:11176–11185
Moseley JB, Goode BL (2006) The yeast actin cytoskeleton: from cellular function to biochemical mechanism. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 70:605–645
Tsien RY, Waggoner A (1995) Fluorophores for confocal microscopy. In: Pauley JB (ed) Handbook of biological confocal microscopy. Pleum, New York, pp 267–274
Rietdrof J (2005) Microscopic techniques. In: Rietdorf J (ed) Advances in biochemical engineering/biotechnology. Springer, Berlin, pp 246–249
Antunes F, Cadonas E, Brunk UT (2001) Apoptosis induced by exposure to a low steady-state concentration of H2O2 is a consequence of lysosomal rupture. Biochem J 356:549–555
Zdolsek JM, Olsson MG, Brunk UT (1990) Photooxidative damage to lysosomes of cultured macrophages by acridine orange. Photochem Photobiol 51:67–76
Zdolsek JM (1993) Acridine orange-mediated photodamage to cultured cells. APMIS 101: 127–132
Kobayashi Y, Vohimoto T, Nohara H et al (1999) Mechanism of apoptosis induced by a lysosomotropic agent l-Leucyl-l-Leucine methyl ester. Apoptosis 4:357–362
Lovelace MD, Cahill DM (2007) A rapid cell counting method utilizing acridine orange as a novel discriminating marker for both cultured astrocytes and microglia. J Neurosci Methods 165:223–229
Zareba M, Raciti MW, Henry MM et al (2006) Oxidative stress in ARPE-19 cultures: do melanosomes confer cryoprotection? Free Radic Biol Med 40:87–100
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by NIH grant EB007271.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Sohaebuddin, S.K., Tang, L. (2013). A Simple Method to Visualize and Assess the Integrity of Lysosomal Membrane in Mammalian Cells Using a Fluorescent Dye. In: Weissig, V., Elbayoumi, T., Olsen, M. (eds) Cellular and Subcellular Nanotechnology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 991. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-336-7_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-336-7_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-335-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-336-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols