This research was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province grants (Z23H290001, LY19H280001); National Natural Science Foundation of China grants (82274364, 81673607, and 81774011); as well as the Public Welfare Research Project of Huzhou Science and Technology Grant (2021GY49, 2018GZ24). We appreciate the great help, technical support, and experimental support from the Public Platform of Medical Research Center, Academy of Chinese Medical Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University.

1. Material preparation
<ol>
	<li>Culture 2 x 106 Panc02 cells in 12 mL of DMEM medium (10% fetal bovine serum and 100 U/mL of penicillin-streptomycin), and maintain at 37 &#176;C and 95% humidity in an atmosphere of 5% carbon dioxide and 95% air for 48 h.</li>
	<li>Collect Panc02 cells, centrifuge at 28 x g for 2 min, and then discard the supernatant. Ensure that the sample is of an appropriate size (1 x 107 cells), as otherwise, the following fixation and dehydration st...

3D Technique to Visualize Mitochondrial Cristae in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

The method presented here is a useful step-by-step guide for applying the 3D reconstruction technique, which involves applying electron microscopy and image processing technology to the stacking and segmentation of 2D tomographic images generated from serial ultrathin sections. This protocol highlights a limitation of 2D images that can be addressed by 3D visualization of the organelle ultrastructure, which has the advantages of strong reproducibility of the structures at a high-resolution level and higher accuracy. More...

Mitochondria are one of the most important organelles in the cell. They serve as the central hub of cellular bioenergetics and metabolism1,2 and play a critical role in cancer3. Pancreatic cancer (PC) is one of the most difficult cancers4 to treat due to its rapid spread and high mortality rate. Mitochondrial dysfunction, which is mainly caused by changes in the mitochondrial morphology3,5,6,7, has been linked to the disease mechanisms underlying PC8. Mitochondria are also highly dynamic, which is reflected by the frequent and dynamic changes in their network connectivity and cristae structure9. The reshaping of the cristae structure can directly impact the mitochondrial function and cellular state10,11, which are significantly altered during tumor cell growth, metastasis, and tumor microenvironment changes12,13.
In recent years, scientists have studied this organelle using EM observation14,15,16,17; for example, researchers have analyzed the mitochondrial dynamics using 3D reconstruction techniques6,7,18,19. The general concept and method for the 3D reconstruction of electron microscopy images were formally established as early as 196820 and involved combining electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and computer image processing to reconstruct the T4 phage tail. Up until now, electron microscopy 3D imaging technology has made significant advancements in terms of the image resolution21, degree of automation22, and processing volume23 and has been used on an increasingly broad scale in biological research, from the tissue level to the organelle ultrastructure level at the nanometer scale24. In recent years, electron microscopy 3D imaging has also become a promising technology for a wide range of applications25,26,27.
The growing attention on mitochondrial cristae particularly illustrates the essential requirements for ultrastructural volume imaging. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to visualize samples collected on a copper grid (400 mesh)28, with the electron beam passing through the section. However, due to the limited range of the copper grid, it is impossible to fully image continuous slices of the same sample29. This complicates the study of target structures during TEM imaging. Additionally, TEM relies on time-consuming and error-prone manual tasks, including cutting and collecting multiple slices and imaging them sequentially21, so it is not adapted for ultrastructural reconstructions of large-volume samples23. At present, the high-resolution reconstruction of large-volume sample imaging is achieved through the use of specialized equipment, such as the TEM camera array (TEMCA)30 or two second-generation TEMCA systems (TEMCA2)31, which enable automated high-throughput imaging in a short time. However, this type of imaging does not have the advantage of being easy to obtain and universal due to the requirement for customized equipment.
Compared with TEM, the method for automatically generating thousands of serial volumetric images for large areas based on SEM32,33 enhances the efficiency and reliability of serial imaging and delivers higher z-resolutions34. For example, serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) and focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) have both made it possible to achieve the 3D reconstruction of ultrastructure with high speed, efficiency, and resolution35,36. However, it is inevitable that the block surface is mechanically shaved off by the diamond knife of the SBF-SEM or by milling with the focused ion beam of FIB-SEM33,37. Due to the destructiveness of the two methods to the samples, it is not possible to reconstruct the same target structure again for further analysis38,39,40. In addition, few studies have attempted to reconstruct the 3D organelle ultrastructure of cancer cells using EM to observe pathological changes12. For these reasons, in order to further elucidate the pathological mechanisms of cancer cells, such as pancreatic cancer cells, we propose a novel technology for the 3D reconstruction of serial section images using an ultramicrotome and a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) to analyze the mitochondrial ultrastructure at the cristae level; with this technology, high-resolution data can be acquired using an efficient and accessible method. The serial ultrathin sections made using an ultramicrotome can be semi-permanently stored in a grid case and reimaged multiple times, even after several years41. FE-SEM is highly valued as a tool in various research fields due to its ability to provide high-resolution imaging, high magnification, and versatility42. In an attempt to display the fine structure of organelles in 3D, the technique for producing serial 2D image stacks with useful resolution using back-scattered electrons produced by FE-SEM43,44 can also be used to achieve high-throughput and multi-scale imaging of target regions or their associated structures without special equipment45. The generation of charge artifacts directly affects the quality of the acquired images, so it is particularly important to keep the dwell time short.
Thus, the present study elaborates on the experimental procedures employed in this SEM technique to reconstruct the 3D structure of mitochondrial cristae46. Specifically, we show the process developed to achieve the semi-automatic segmentation of mitochondrial regions and digitize the 3D reconstruction using Amira software, which also involves making slice samples using the conventional OTO specimen preparation method44,47, completing the section collection using ultramicrotome slicing, and acquiring sequential 2D data by FE-SEM.

<table border="1" fo:keep-together.within-page="1" fo:keep-with-next.within-page="always">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>(1S,3R)-RSL3</td>
			<td>MCE</td>
			<td>HY-100218A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Acetone</td>
			<td>SIGMA</td>
			<td>179124</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Amira</td>
			<td>Visage Imaging</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Aspartic acid</td>
			<td>MCE</td>
			<td>HY-42068</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dulbecco&#39;s modified Eagle&#8217;s medium</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>11995115</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethanol</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>100983</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ferrostatin-1</td>
			<td>MCE</td>
			<td>HY-100579</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fetal bovine serum</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>10437010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Field emission scanning electron microscope</td>
			<td>HITACHI</td>
			<td>SU8010</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glutaraldehyde</td>
			<td>Alfa Aesar</td>
			<td>A10500.22</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Lead nitrate</td>
			<td>SANTA CRUZ</td>
			<td>sc-211724</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Osmium Tetroxide</td>
			<td>SANTA CRUZ</td>
			<td>sc-206008B</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Panc02</td>
			<td>European Collection of Authenticated Cell Cultures&#160;</td>
			<td>98102213</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Penicillin-streptomycin</td>
			<td>Biosharp</td>
			<td>BL505A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphate Buffered Saline</td>
			<td>Biosharp</td>
			<td>BL302A</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Pon 812 Epoxy resin</td>
			<td>SPI CHEM</td>
			<td>GS02660</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Potassium ferrocyanide</td>
			<td>Macklin</td>
			<td>P816416</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Thiocarbohydrazide</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>223220</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ultramicrotome</td>
			<td>LEICA</td>
			<td>EMUC7</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Uranyl Acetate</td>
			<td>RHAWN</td>
			<td>R032929</td>
			<td>2020.2</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

a three-dimensional technique for the visualization of mitochondrial ultrastructural changes in pancreatic cancer cells

Understanding the dynamic features of the cell organelle ultrastructure, which is not only rich in unknown information but also sophisticated from a three-dimensional (3D) perspective, is critical for mechanistic studies. Electron microscopy (EM) offers good imaging depth and allows for the reconstruction of high-resolution image stacks to investigate the ultrastructural morphology of cellular organelles even at the nanometer scale; therefore, 3D reconstruction is gaining importance due to its incomparable advantages. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides a high-throughput image acquisition technology that allows for reconstructing large structures in 3D from the same region of interest in consecutive slices. Therefore, the application of SEM in large-scale 3D reconstruction to restore the true 3D ultrastructure of organelles is becoming increasingly common. In this protocol, we suggest a combination of serial ultrathin section and 3D reconstruction techniques to study mitochondrial cristae in pancreatic cancer cells. The details of how these techniques are performed are described in this protocol in a step-by-step manner, including the osmium-thiocarbohydrazide-osmium (OTO) method, the serial ultrathin section imaging, and the visualization display.

A Three-Dimensional Technique for the Visualization of Mitochondrial Ultrastructural Changes in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

During cell culture (Figure 1A), we first divided the pancreatic cancer cells into a control group cultured with complete culture medium, a (1S,3R)-RSL348 (RSL3, a ferroptosis activator, 100 nM) group, and an RSL3 (100 nM) plus ferrostatin-149 (Fer-1, a ferroptosis inhibitor, 100 nM) group. Through the above experimental steps, the scanning electron microscope acquired 38 (Supplementary&#160;Figure 1), 43 (Supplementary...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Three-Dimensional Technique for the Visualization of Mitochondrial Ultrastructural Changes in Pancreatic Cancer Cells at JoVE.com

A Three-Dimensional Technique for the Visualization of Mitochondrial Ultrastructural Changes in Pancreatic Cancer Cells (Video) | JoVE 

This protocol describes how to reconstruct mitochondrial cristae to achieve 3D imaging with high accuracy, high resolution, and high throughput.

Understanding the dynamic features of the cell organelle ultrastructure, which is not only rich in unknown information but also sophisticated from a ...