Vital imaging of multicellular spheroids

Paulo J. Oliveira, Edward L. Perkins, Jon Holy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Cell behavior is significantly different in two-dimensional and three-dimensional culture conditions, and a number of methods have been developed to establish and study three-dimensional cellular arrays in vitro. When grown under nonadherent conditions, many types of cells form structures called multicellular spheroids (MCSs), which have been popular models to study cell behavior in a three-dimensional environment. The histoarchitecture of MCSs derived from malignant cells resembles that of tumors, and there is rapidly increasing interest in using these structures to more accurately understand the dynamics of cancer cells in situ, including their responses to chemotherapeutics. Confocal microscopy is an extremely useful method to investigate cell behavior in MCSs due to its ability to more clearly image fluorescent probes at some depth in three-dimensional structures. This chapter describes some basic approaches toward visualizing a variety of fluorescent probes in MCSs.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationConfocal Microscopy
Subtitle of host publicationMethods and Protocols
PublisherHumana Press Inc.
Pages227-241
Number of pages15
ISBN (Print)9781588293510
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014

Publication series

NameMethods in Molecular Biology
Volume1075
ISSN (Print)1064-3745

Keywords

  • Fluorescent labeling
  • Mitochondria
  • Multicellular spheroid
  • Nuclei
  • Vital imaging

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