Improvements in fluorescence techniques enhance studies of cell membranes

Though fluorescence techniques have long been fundamental tools in cell membrane studies, direct visualization of membranes remains a challenge. To help better understand the structure and dynamics of cell membranes, Jagadish Sankaran and Thorsten Wohland provide a review of membrane dynamics measurement and analysis techniques and recommend future steps for gaining a more fundamental understanding of these cell structures.

“One of the problems is that researchers either look at dynamics or at structure individually, but often do not interconnect the two,” said Sankaran. “The same happens with fluorescence techniques. Often one uses one technique in preference to another, despite the fact that a full understanding would probably be easier gained when using these complementary techniques.”

Several different fluorescence techniques can be used to study the physicochemical properties of cell membranes at nanometer length scales and microsecond temporal scales. For example, fluorescence correlation microscopy can monitor fluctuations in fluorescence intensity in a small ensemble of molecules to determine their concentration and mobility in the membrane. On the other hand, number and brightness analyses can determine the oligomeric states of molecules in the membrane and provide complementary information. The authors suggest combining monitoring techniques to better understand simultaneous properties and their correlations.

“We might be able to push the field much further by applying multiple techniques to the exact same samples to maximize the information extraction from a sample,” Sankaran said.

The authors hope to combine these techniques, in addition to improvements in computational methods such as better molecular dynamics simulations and machine learning algorithms, and help push the field toward the future and improve the study and understanding of membrane dynamics.

Source: “Fluorescence strategies for mapping cell membrane dynamics and structures,” by Jagadish Sankaran and Thorsten Wohland, APL Bioengineering (2020). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5143945 .