Real‐time histological imaging of kidneys stained with food dyes using multiphoton microscopy

Abstract

We have developed a real-time imaging technique for diagnosis of kidney diseases which is composed of two steps, staining renal cells safely with food dyes and optical sectioning of living renal tissue to obtain histological images by multiphoton microscopy (MPM). Here, we demonstrated that the MPM imaging with food dyes, including erythrosine and indigo carmine, could be used as fluorescent agents to visualize renal functions and structures such as glomerular bloodstreams, glomerular filtration, and morphology of glomeruli and renal tubules. We also showed that the kidneys of IgA nephropathy model-mice stained with the food dyes presented histopathological characteristics different from those observed in normal kidneys. The use of the food dyes enhances the quality of tissue images obtained by MPM and offers the potential to contribute to a clinical real-time diagnosis of kidney diseases.

Noninvasive and safe cell viability assay for Paramecium using natural pigment extracted from food

“…Therefore, research on food pigment extraction methods and their application to foods is underway 27 . In addition, a method has been developed to evaluate the cell staining properties of biological staining by observation under a multiphoton laser microscope 28 . The pigments used there include not only synthetic colorants but also natural food pigments.…”