Revisiting Fixation and Embedding Techniques for Optimal Detection of Dendritic Cell Subsets in Tissues

Spatial Point Pattern Analysis Identifies Mechanisms Shaping the Skin Parasite Landscape in Leishmania donovani Infection

Increasing evidence suggests that in hosts infected with parasites of the Leishmania donovani complex, transmission of infection to the sand fly vector is linked to parasite repositories in the host skin. However, a detailed understanding of the dispersal (the mechanism of spread) and dispersion (the observed state of spread) of these obligatory-intracellular parasites and their host phagocytes in the skin is lacking. Using endogenously fluorescent parasites as a proxy, we apply image analysis combined with spatial point pattern models borrowed from ecology to characterize dispersion of parasitized myeloid cells (including ManR+ and CD11c+ cells) and predict dispersal mechanisms in a previously described immunodeficient model of L. donovani infection. Our results suggest that after initial seeding of infection in the skin, heavily parasite-infected myeloid cells are found in patches that resemble innate granulomas. Spread of parasites from these initial patches subsequently occurs through infection of recruited myeloid cells, ultimately leading to self-propagating networks of patch clusters. This combination of imaging and ecological pattern analysis to identify mechanisms driving the skin parasite landscape offers new perspectives on myeloid cell behavior following parasitism by L. donovani and may also be applicable to elucidating the behavior of other intracellular tissue-resident pathogens and their host cells.

Use of fixatives for immunohistochemistry and their application for detection of retinoic acid synthesizing enzymes in the central nervous system

Retinoic acid (RA) is a lipid signaling molecule that has a crucial role in growth and survival of neurons as well as regulation of neuronal plasticity in the central nervous system. Complete understanding of the distribution of RA is necessary to identify foci of RA signaling. However, RA itself is very difficult to detect by immunohistochemistry as there are few effective antibodies to this lipid and it can be difficult to fix in place in tissue. A set of retinaldehyde dehydrogenases (RALDHs) catalyze the last step of RA synthesis and their distribution can be used as a proxy for RA distribution. This protocol uses the example of RALDH2 expression in the motor neurons of the spinal cord as a demonstration of the approach and describes methods that can improve its effectiveness. Immunodetection is impacted by protein cross linking and protein denaturation as well as antigen/epitope masking by various fixatives. Finding a suitable fixative that preserves morphology and tissue structure by linking cellular component such as proteins and lipids in an indissoluble macromolecular network while keeping functional groups, including antigens, intact is essential. Here, we discuss fixatives in general and also describe a fixation protocol that allows detection of multiple antigens in the same section with a periodate-lysine-paraformaldehyde (PLP) fixative. This keeps tissue structure and antigen well preserved in the adult spinal cord to show RALDH2 expression in motor neurons.