Cytokinesis machinery promotes cell dissociation from collectively migrating strands in confinement.

Cells tune adherens junction dynamics to regulate epithelial integrity in diverse (patho)physiological processes, including cancer metastasis. We hypothesized that the spatially confining architecture of peritumor stroma promotes metastatic cell dissemination by remodeling cell-cell adhesive interactions. By combining microfluidics with live-cell imaging, FLIM/FRET biosensors, and optogenetic tools, we show that confinement induces leader cell dissociation from cohesive ensembles.

Redox and mTOR-dependent regulation of plasma lamellar calcium influx controls the senescence-associated secretory phenotype.

Through its ability to evoke responses from cells in a paracrine fashion, the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) has been linked to numerous age-associated disease pathologies including tumor invasion, cardiovascular dysfunction, neuroinflammation, osteoarthritis, and renal disease. Strategies which limit the amplitude and duration of SASP serve to delay age-related degenerative decline. Here we demonstrate that the SASP regulation is linked to shifts in intracellular Ca homeostasis and strategies which rescue redox-dependent calcium entry including enzymatic HO scavenging, TRP modulation, or mTOR inhibition block SASP and TRPC6 gene expression.

Methamphetamine-induced apoptosis in glial cells examined under marker-free imaging modalities.

We used phase microscopy and Raman spectroscopic measurements to assess the response of in vitro rat C6 glial cells following methamphetamine treatment in real time. Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) and three-dimensional (3-D) tomographic nanoscopy allow measurements of live cell cultures, which yield information about cell volume changes. Tomographic phase imaging provides 3-D information about the refractive index distribution associated with the morphology of biological samples.

Methamphetamine Induces Apoptosis of Microglia via the Intrinsic Mitochondrial-Dependent Pathway.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a drug of abuse, the acute and chronic use of which induces neurotoxic responses in the human brain, ultimately leading to neurocognitive disorders. Our goals were to understand the impact of METH on microglial mitochondrial respiration and to determine whether METH induces the activation of the mitochondrial-dependent intrinsic apoptosis pathway in microglia. We assessed the expression of pro- apoptosis genes using qPCR of RNA extracted from a human microglial cell line (HTHU).