Time-lapse imaging of disease progression in deep brain areas using fluorescence microendoscopy.

The combination of intravital microscopy and animal models of disease has propelled studies of disease mechanisms and treatments. However, many disorders afflict tissues inaccessible to light microscopy in live subjects. Here we introduce cellular-level time-lapse imaging deep within the live mammalian brain by one- and two-photon fluorescence microendoscopy over multiple weeks. Bilateral imaging sites allowed longitudinal comparisons within individual subjects, including of normal and diseased tissues. Using this approach, we tracked CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neuron dendrites in adult mice, revealing these dendrites' extreme stability and rare examples of their structural alterations. To illustrate disease studies, we tracked deep lying gliomas by observing tumor growth, visualizing three-dimensional vasculature structure and determining microcirculatory speeds. Average erythrocyte speeds in gliomas declined markedly as the disease advanced, notwithstanding significant increases in capillary diameters. Time-lapse microendoscopy will be applicable to studies of numerous disorders, including neurovascular, neurological, cancerous and trauma-induced conditions.

In vitro and murine efficacy and toxicity studies of nebulized SCC1, a methylated caffeine-silver(I) complex, for treatment of pulmonary infections.

The expanding clinical challenge of respiratory tract infections due to resistant bacteria necessitates the development of new forms of therapy. The development of a compound composed of silver coupled to a methylated caffeine carrier (silver carbene complex 1 [SCC1]) that demonstrated in vitro efficacy against bacteria, including drug-resistant organisms, isolated from patients with respiratory tract infections was described previously. The findings of current in vitro studies now suggest that bactericidal concentrations of SCC1 are not toxic to airway epithelial cells in primary culture. Thus, it was hypothesized that SCC1 could be administered by the aerosolized route to concentrate delivery to the lung while minimizing systemic toxicity. In vivo, aerosolized SCC1 delivered to mice resulted in mild aversion behavior, but it was otherwise well tolerated and did not cause lung inflammation following administration over a 5-day period. The therapeutic efficacy of SCC1 compared to that of water was shown in a 3-day prophylaxis protocol, in which mice infected with a clinical strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa had increased survival, decreased amounts of bacteria in the lung, and a lower prevalence of bacteremia. Similarly, by using an airway infection model in which bacteria were impacted in the airways by agarose beads, the administration of SCC1 was significantly superior to water in decreasing the lung bacterial burden and the levels of bacteremia and markers of airway inflammation. These observations indicate that aerosolized SCC1, a novel antimicrobial agent, warrants further study as a potential therapy for bacterial respiratory tract infections.