Work

Noninvasive and in situ identification of the phenotypes and differentiation stages of individual living cells entrapped within hydrogels

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: . We collected a single Raman spectrum from each cell of interest while it was entrapped within a hydrogel matrix and used partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) of the spectra for cell phenotype identification. We first demonstrate that this approach enables identifying the lineages of individual, living cells from different laboratory lines entrapped within two different hydrogels that are used for 3D culture, collagen and gelatin methacrylate (gelMA). Then we use a hematopoietic progenitor cell line that differentiates into different types of macrophages to show that the lineage-specific differentiation stages of individual, living hematopoietic cells entrapped inside of gelMA scaffolds may be identified by PLS-DA of Raman spectra. This ability to noninvasively identify the lineage-specific differentiation stages of cells without removing them from a 3D culture could enable tracking the differentiation of the same cell over time.

Source: The Analyst

DOI: 10.1039/d4an00800f

Authors: Isamar Pastrana-Otero, Apurva R. Godbole, Mary L. Kraft

Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Language: English

Topic: Spectroscopy Techniques in Biomedical and Chemical Research

Subfield: Biophysics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: National Institutes of Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Award: An objective noninvasive single-cell method to identify HSC differentiation stage