Mouse Organ-Specific Proteins and Functions.

Organ-specific proteins (OSPs) possess great medical potential both in clinics and in biomedical research. Applications of them-such as alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and troponins-in clinics have raised certain concerns of their organ specificity. The dynamics and diversity of protein expression in heterogeneous human populations are well known, yet their effects on OSPs are less addressed. Here, we used mice as a model and implemented a breadth study to examine the panorgan proteome for potential variations in organ specificity in different genetic backgrounds. Using reasonable resources, we generated panorgan proteomes of four in-bred mouse strains. The results revealed a large diversity that was more profound among OSPs than among proteomes overall. We defined a robustness score to quantify such variation and derived three sets of OSPs with different stringencies. In the meantime, we found that the enriched biological functions of OSPs are also organ-specific and are sensitive and useful to assess the quality of OSPs. We hope our breadth study can open doors to explore the molecular diversity and dynamics of organ specificity at the protein level.

Label-free volumetric imaging of conjunctival collecting lymphatics ex vivo by optical coherence tomography lymphangiography.

We employ optical coherence tomography (OCT) and optical coherence microscopy (OCM) to study conjunctival lymphatics in porcine eyes ex vivo. This study is a precursor to the development of in vivo imaging of the collecting lymphatics for potentially guiding and monitoring glaucoma filtration surgery. OCT scans at 1300 nm and higher-resolution OCM scans at 785 nm reveal the lymphatic vessels via their optical transparency. Equivalent signal characteristics are also observed from blood vessels largely free of blood (and devoid of flow) in the ex vivo conjunctiva. In our lymphangiography, vessel networks were segmented by compensating the depth attenuation in the volumetric OCT/OCM signal, projecting the minimum intensity in two dimensions and thresholding to generate a three-dimensional vessel volume. Vessel segmentation from multiple locations of a range of porcine eyes (n = 21) enables visualization of the vessel networks and indicates the varying spatial distribution of patent lymphatics. Such visualization provides a new tool to investigate conjunctival vessels in tissue ex vivo without need for histological tissue processing and a valuable reference on vessel morphology for the in vivo label-free imaging studies of lymphatics to follow.

Quantitative comparisons between optical coherence tomography angiography and matched histology in the human eye.

The aim was to quantitatively compare retinal vascular detail as seen on optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and matched histology in the human eye. 13 normal human donor eyes were used. The central retinal artery was cannulated after which human packed red blood cells were perfused through the retinal vasculature. Retinal vessels were imaged using a custom-built OCTA device during red blood cell perfusion. The eye was subsequently perfused with endothelial cell antibodies and the flat-mounted retina studied histologically using a confocal scanning laser microscope. Qualitative and quantitative comparisons of retinal vascular information as seen on OCTA and histology from the same region of interest were performed. Gradable OCTA images were acquired from 4 of 13 eyes with mean postmortem-to-OCTA imaging time of 4.5 ±â€¯1.3 h 23 pairs of OCTA-histology matched images were evaluated. The retinal arteries and veins had similar pixel intensity on OCTA images. The diameter of retinal veins was significantly greater than its paired artery on OCTA (P < 0.001). The density of vascular structures on OCTA (40.2% ±â€¯10.1%) was significantly less than matched histology (52.1% ±â€¯9.3%, P < 0.001). Mean capillary diameter on OCTA (10.2 ±â€¯2.4 µm) was significantly greater than histology (8.2 ±â€¯2.4 µm; P < 0.001). This is the first study to directly compare OCTA against histology from the same human eye. OCTA visualizes many of the vascular structures in the human retinal circulation but does not exactly match what is seen on histologic examination.