Contrast-Free FLIM Reveals Metabolic Changes in Pathological Islets of Langerhans

FLIM (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy) is a powerful tool that could be used in the future to diagnose islet cell recovery after therapy. The identification of appropriate FLIM parameters is required to determine islet quality and islet cell metabolism throughout the organ under various conditions of insulin deficiency. The aim of the work was to identify key FLIM parameters, changes of which are characteristic of pancreatic pathologies. The τm, τ1, τ2, α1, α2 and α1/α2 of free and bound forms of NAD(P)H of the islet cells of animals (rats and pigs) and of humans with and without pathologies were measured and analyzed. The data were confirmed by IHC and histological studies. We identified three FLIM parameters in islet cells from animals with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus (DM) and from humans with chronic pancreatitis + type 2 diabetes (T2D), which differ in the same way: τm and α2 take lower values compared to the nonpathological islet cells, while α1/α2 takes higher values. In islet cells from patients with adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and chronic pancreatitis, these parameters had reverse tendency relative to the norm or did not differ. Thus, minimally invasive and non-contrast FLIM methods may, in the future, be used to diagnose pathological islet cells.