Correlative High-Resolution Imaging of Iron Uptake in Lung Macrophages.

Detection of iron at the subcellular level in order to gain insights into its transport, storage, and therapeutic prospects to prevent cytotoxic effects of excessive iron accumulation is still a challenge. Nanoscale magnetic sector secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is an excellent candidate for subcellular mapping of elements in cells since it provides high secondary ion collection efficiency and transmission, coupled with high-lateral-resolution capabilities enabled by nanoscale primary ion beams. In this study, we developed correlative methodologies that implement SIMS high-resolution imaging technologies to study accumulation and determine subcellular localization of iron in alveolar macrophages. We employed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and backscattered electron (BSE) microscopy to obtain structural information and high-resolution analytical tools, NanoSIMS and helium ion microscopy-SIMS (HIM-SIMS) to trace the chemical signature of iron. Chemical information from NanoSIMS was correlated with TEM data, while high-spatial-resolution ion maps from HIM-SIMS analysis were correlated with BSE structural information of the cell. NanoSIMS revealed that iron is accumulating within mitochondria, and both NanoSIMS and HIM-SIMS showed accumulation of iron in electrolucent compartments such as vacuoles, lysosomes, and lipid droplets. This study provides insights into iron metabolism at the subcellular level and has future potential in finding therapeutics to reduce the cytotoxic effects of excessive iron loading.

How well does molecular simulation reproduce environment-specific conformations of the intrinsically disordered peptides PLP, TP2 and ONEG?

Understanding the conformational ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins and peptides (IDPs) in their various biological environments is essential for understanding their mechanisms and functional roles in the proteome, leading to a greater knowledge of, and potential treatments for, a broad range of diseases. To determine whether molecular simulation is able to generate accurate conformational ensembles of IDPs, we explore the structural landscape of the PLP peptide (an intrinsically disordered region of the proteolipid membrane protein) in aqueous and membrane-mimicking solvents, using replica exchange with solute scaling (REST2), and examine the ability of four force fields (ff14SB, ff14IDPSFF, CHARMM36 and CHARMM36m) to reproduce literature circular dichroism (CD) data. Results from variable temperature (VT) 1H and Rotating frame Overhauser Effect SpectroscopY (ROESY) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are also presented and are consistent with the structural observations obtained from the simulations and CD. We also apply the optimum simulation protocol to TP2 and ONEG (a cell-penetrating peptide (CPP) and a negative control peptide, respectively) to gain insight into the structural differences that may account for the observed difference in their membrane-penetrating abilities. Of the tested force fields, we find that CHARMM36 and CHARMM36m are best suited to the study of IDPs, and accurately predict a disordered to helical conformational transition of the PLP peptide accompanying the change from aqueous to membrane-mimicking solvents. We also identify an α-helical structure of TP2 in the membrane-mimicking solvents and provide a discussion of the mechanistic implications of this observation with reference to the previous literature on the peptide. From these results, we recommend the use of CHARMM36m with the REST2 protocol for the study of environment-specific IDP conformations. We believe that the simulation protocol will allow the study of a broad range of IDPs that undergo conformational transitions in different biological environments.

ToF-SIMS mediated analysis of human lung tissue reveals increased iron deposition in COPD (GOLD IV) patients.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a debilitating lung disease that is currently the third leading cause of death worldwide. Recent reports have indicated that dysfunctional iron handling in the lungs of COPD patients may be one contributing factor. However, a number of these studies have been limited to the qualitative assessment of iron levels through histochemical staining or to the expression levels of iron-carrier proteins in cells or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. In this study, we have used time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to visualize and relatively quantify iron accumulation in lung tissue sections of healthy donors versus severe COPD patients. An IONTOF 5 instrument was used to perform the analysis, and further multivariate analysis was used to analyze the data. An orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score plot revealed good separation between the two groups. This separation was primarily attributed to differences in iron content, as well as differences in other chemical signals possibly associated with lipid species. Further, relative quantitative analysis revealed twelve times higher iron levels in lung tissue sections of COPD patients when compared to healthy donors. In addition, iron accumulation observed within the cells was heterogeneously distributed, indicating cellular compartmentalization.