A Co-Culture-Based Multiparametric Imaging Technique to Dissect Local H₂O₂ Signals with Targeted HyPer7

Multispectral live-cell imaging is an informative approach that permits detecting biological processes simultaneously in the spatial and temporal domain by exploiting spectrally distinct biosensors. However, the combination of fluorescent biosensors with distinct spectral properties such as different sensitivities, and dynamic ranges can undermine accurate co-imaging of the same analyte in different subcellular locales. We advanced a single-color multiparametric imaging method, which allows simultaneous detection of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in multiple cell locales (nucleus, cytosol, mitochondria) using the H₂O₂ biosensor HyPer7. Co-culturing of endothelial cells stably expressing differentially targeted HyPer7 biosensors paved the way for co-imaging compartmentalized H₂O₂ signals simultaneously in neighboring cells in a single experimental setup. We termed this approach COMPARE IT, which is an acronym for co-culture-based multiparametric imaging technique. Employing this approach, we detected lower H₂O₂ levels in mitochondria of endothelial cells compared to the cell nucleus and cytosol under basal conditions. Upon administering exogenous H₂O₂, the cytosolic and nuclear-targeted probes displayed similarly slow and moderate HyPer7 responses, whereas the mitochondria-targeted HyPer7 signal plateaued faster and reached higher amplitudes. Our results indicate striking differences in mitochondrial H₂O₂ accumulation of endothelial cells. Here, we present the method's potential as a practicable and informative multiparametric live-cell imaging technique.