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Updated: Mar 12, 2026
Cortical Actin Flow in T Cells Quantified by Spatio-temporal Image Correlation Spectroscopy of Structured Illumination Microscopy Data
Published on: December 17, 2015
Fluorescence Imaging of Actin Fine Structure in Tumor Tissues Using SiR-Actin Staining
Natalia V Klementieva1, Ludmila B Snopova1, Natalia N Prodanets1
1Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation.
Background:
The rearrangement of actin cytoskeleton is being increasingly considered a marker of cancer cell activity, but the fine structure and remodeling of microfilaments within tumor tissue still remains unclear.
Materials And Methods:
We used the recently introduced silicon-rhodamine (SiR)-actin dye to visualize endogenous actin within tissues by confocal or total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. We established imaging conditions for robust blinking of SiR-actin, which makes this dye applicable for super-resolution localization microscopy, as well as for an efficient background elimination.
Results:
We studied tumor tissue samples in two mouse models at high resolution and revealed a complex network of thick curved bundles of actin in cancer cells in tumors. This actin pattern differed strongly from that in cancer cells in vitro and in normal tissues.
Conclusion:
Localization microscopy with SiR-actin provides an efficient way to visualize fine actin structure in tumor tissues. It is potentially applicable to a variety of biological and clinical samples.
