Rapid morphological characterization of isolated mitochondria using Brownian motion

Abstract

Mitochondrial morphology has been associated with numerous pathologies including cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart disease. However, the connection is poorly understood—in part due to the difficulty of characterizing the morphology. This impedes the use of morphology as a tool for disease detection/monitoring. Here, we use the Brownian motion of isolated mitochondria to characterize their size and shape in a high throughput fashion. By using treadmill exercise training, mitochondria from heart and gastrocnemius of Balb/c mice were modulated in size and used to investigate the protocol. Consistent with previous reports, the heart mitochondria of untrained mice increased 5% in diameter immediately after a single bout of moderate exercise (1.091 ± 0.004 μm) as compared to completely sedentary controls (1.040 ± 0.022 μm). In addition, no change was observed in the size of gastrocnemius mitochondria (1.025 ± 0.018 μm), which was also in agreement with previous studies. The method was also successfully applied to smaller Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria.

Mitochondrial networking in human blood cells with application in acute care illnesses

“…Prior work in this area often attributed mitochondrial movement to small-scale Brownian motion or limited directed motion. 23 In our previous work we demonstrated that mitochondrial motility follows a continuous distribution in a lognormal fashion in select cell lines. 17 We also demonstrate this type of motion in human blood cells, namely PBMCs consisting of a mixed population of monocytes and lymphocytes.…”

Significant correlation between refractive index and activity of mitochondria: single mitochondrion study

“…The RI of an organelle depends on the chemical compositions of the organelle. Since each mitochondrion independently undergoes changes including shrinkage and elongation [12][13][14][15][16], changes in individual mitochondrial RI may also occur, resulting in heterogeneity of mitochondrial RIs. Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in a cell has also been reported to be heterogeneous [17].…”

A targetable fluorescent probe for detecting mitochondrial viscosity in live cells by using fluorescence lifetime imaging

“…Cellular viscosity is a significant microenvironment parameter, which plays a crucial role in maintaining the normal physiological functions of cells, such as signal transduction, interaction between biomolecules, nutrient transportation and metabolite diffusion at the cellular and subcellular levels. [1][2][3][4] Abnormal intracellular viscosity is associated with malignant changes in physiological processes, especially with the emergence of many diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and even cancers. [5][6][7] For example, the lysosome viscosity of cancer cells is usually higher than that in normal ones and can be used as a marker for tumor diagnosis.…”