Nonlinear optical imaging and Raman microspectrometry of the cell nucleus throughout the cell cycle

Fundamental understanding of cellular processes at molecular level is of considerable importance in cell biology as well as in biomedical disciplines for early diagnosis of infection and cancer diseases, and for developing new molecular medicine-based therapies. Modern biophotonics offers exclusive capabilities to obtain information on molecular composition, organization, and dynamics in a cell by utilizing a combination of optical spectroscopy and optical imaging. We introduce here a combination of Raman microspectrometry, together with coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) and two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) nonlinear optical microscopy, to study macromolecular organization of the nucleus throughout the cell cycle. Site-specific concentrations of proteins, DNA, RNA, and lipids were determined in nucleoli, nucleoplasmic transcription sites, nuclear speckles, constitutive heterochromatin domains, mitotic chromosomes, and extrachromosomal regions of mitotic cells by quantitative confocal Raman microspectrometry. A surprising finding, obtained in our study, is that the local concentration of proteins does not increase during DNA compaction. We also demonstrate that postmitotic DNA decondensation is a gradual process, continuing for several hours. The quantitative Raman spectroscopic analysis was corroborated with CARS/TPEF multimodal imaging to visualize the distribution of protein, DNA, RNA, and lipid macromolecules throughout the cell cycle.