Understanding the Changes in Mitochondrial Morphology through Dynamic and Three-dimensional Fluorescence Micrographs

Mitochondria are highly dynamic organelles that are vital to the survival of any animal, undergoing regular fission and fusion events in response to the needs or stresses of the host, leading to the constant remodeling of the mitochondrial network. Because of this, being able to evaluate the mitochondrial network in three dimensions, as well as over time, offers a benefit in understanding how the system responds to factors such as stress or pharmaceutical intervention. Fluorescence imaging of the mitochondrial networks of cells enables the ability to visualize and monitor these changes. However, the mitochondrial network is often described as a two-dimensional and static structure that is defined by unstandardized metrics. Therefore, we set out to describe a pipeline that enables the user to prepare their images for the mitochondrial event localizer (MEL), an ImageJ plugin tool that detects fission and fusion events in the mitochondrial network over time and in a 3-dimensional manner, thus, offering insight into the dynamic changes that this network undergoes. Additionally, we describe the benefits of understanding fission and fusion in light of the changes in the mitochondrial count and morphological changes.