Generating and Analyzing High-Parameter Histology Images with Histoflow Cytometry

Summary

Described here is a method that can be used to image five or more fluorescent parameters by immunofluorescent microscopy. An analysis pipeline for extracting single cells from these images and conducting single-cell analysis through flow cytometry-like gating strategies is outlined, which can identify cell subsets in tissue sections.

Abstract

The usage of histology to investigate immune cell diversity in tissue sections such as those derived from the central nervous system (CNS) is critically limited by the number of fluorescent parameters that can be imaged at a single time. Most immune cell subsets have been defined using flow cytometry by using complex combinations of protein markers, often requiring four or more parameters to conclusively identify, which is beyond the capabilities of most conventional microscopes. As flow cytometry dissociates tissues and loses spatial information, there is a need for techniques that can retain spatial information while interrogating the roles of complex cell types. These issues are addressed here by creating a method for expanding the number of fluorescent parameters that can be imaged by collecting the signals of spectrally overlapping fluorophores and using spectral unmixing to separate the signals of each individual fluorophore. These images are then processed using an analysis pipeline to take high-parameter histology images and extract single cells from these images so that the unique fluorescent properties of each cell can be analyzed at a single-cell level. Using flow cytometry-like gating strategies, cells can then be profiled into subsets and mapped back onto the histology sections to not only quantify their abundance, but also establish how they interact with the tissue environment. Overall, the simplicity and potential of using histoflow cytometry to study complex immune populations in histology sections is demonstrated.

Introduction

Inflammation driven by cells of the immune system and glial cells can contribute to chronic disorders of the CNS where each population can promote the activity of the other^1,2,3. Understanding how the immune system interacts with these elements of the CNS to promote CNS inflammation is currently a major topic of interest and has been greatly facilitated by high-parameter techniques such as single-cell RNA sequencing. Through single-cell RNA sequencing, we have discovered that there is extensive communication occurring between glial cells and the immune system in several CNS d....

Protocol

This protocol does not cover sectioning tissues for histology; please see Jain et al.¹⁸ or¹⁹ for descriptions of how to section tissues for histology. This protocol can be used with any sectioned tissues on glass slides. This article uses inguinal lymph nodes isolated from an immunized animal as described previously¹⁸. The procedure and timeline for this protocol are summarized in Figure 1. The details of the reagents and the equipment used in this study are listed in the Table of Materials.

1. Staining tissue section....

Results

Figure 1: Histoflow cytometry workflow. Tissue sections are stained with spectrally overlapping dyes (step 1). Images are collected across individual excitation lasers paired with tunable bandpass filters to minimize spectral bleed-through between fluorophores (step 2). Spectral bleed-through between channels is corrected based on a compensatio.......

Discussion

Here, the use of histoflow cytometry is described, a technique that has been validated previously¹⁸. It is demonstrated that when staining tissue sections with spectrally overlapping dyes, that bleed-through across channels can be removed using spectral compensation, resulting in a greater number of fluorescent parameters being clearly resolved than would normally be possible through conventional methods. As high-parameter histology images are difficult to analyze using conventional methods, an an.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
100% Ethanol	Sigma	676829-1L
4% PFA	Electron Microscopy Sciences	157-4
Anaconda	N/A	N/A	https://www.anaconda.com/download
Bovine Serum Albumin	Sigma	A4503-50G
Cold fish stain gelatin	Sigma	G7765
Collating multichannel data from Imaris.ipynb script	N/A	N/A	https://github.com/elliottcalgary/Histoflow-Cytometry-Analysis-
Convert FlowJo output to txt file for Cell selection in Imaris.ipynb script	N/A	N/A	https://github.com/elliottcalgary/Histoflow-Cytometry-Analysis-
Donkey anti-rat Alexa Fluor 647	JacksonImmunoResearch	712-605-153	1:300 concentration
Donkey anti-rat DyLight 405	Jackson ImmunoResearch	712-475-153	1:200 concentration
Donkey Serum	JacksonImmunoResearch	017-000-001
F(ab')2-Goat anti-Mouse IgG PerCP-eFluor 710	Thermofisher	46-4010-82	1:25 concentration
FIJI	N/A	N/A	https://imagej.net/software/fiji/
FlowJo	FlowJo LLC		Software 4
Fluorescence spectraviewer			https://www.thermofisher.com/order/fluorescence-spectraviewer/#!/
Fluoromount-G	Southern Biotech	0100-01
Fresh frozen human tonsil sections	amsbio	HF-707
Glass coverslip	VWR	48393 106
Goat anti-human IgA Alexa Fluor 488	JacksonImmunoResearch	109-546-011	1:400 concentration
Goat anti-human IgG Cy3	JacksonImmunoResearch	709-166-098	1:400 concentration
Goat anti-human IgM Dylight 405	JacksonImmunoResearch	109-476-129	1:300 concentration
Goat anti-rabbit A546	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A-11035	1:250 concentration
Goat anti-rabbit IgG PE-Alexa Fluor 610	Thermofisher	A-20981	1:250 concentration
Horse Serum	Sigma	H1138
Ilastik	N/A	N/A	https://www.ilastik.org/
Ilastik FIJI plugin	N/A	N/A	https://www.ilastik.org/documentation/fiji_export/plugin
Imaris File Converter	Oxford Instruments		Software 2
Imaris with cell module	Oxford Instruments		Software 3
kimwipe	Kimtech	34155
LasX Life Science software	Leica		Software 1
Mouse anti-human CD20	VWR	CA95024-322	1:40 concentration
Mouse anti-human CD38 APC-R700	BD Biosciences	564980	1:20 concentration
Normal Goat Serum	JacksonImmunoResearch	005-000-001
Normal Mouse Serum	JacksonImmunoResearch	015-000-001
Normal Rabbit Serum	JacksonImmunoResearch	011-000-001
Normal Rat Serum	JacksonImmunoResearch	012-000-120
Nuclear Yellow	Abcam	ab138903	Dissolve in DMSO at a concentration of 2 mg/ml and store at 4°C in the dark
PAP pen	Cedarlane	MU22
PBS	Gibco	10010-023
Rabbit anti-human Ki67	Abcam	ab15580	1:500 concentration
Rabbit anti-mouse Iba1	Wako	019-19741	1:500 concentration
Rat anti-human Blimp1	Thermofisher	14-5963-82	1:40 concentration
Rat anti-mouse B220 Alexa Fluor 647	BioLegend	103226	1:250 concentration
Rat anti-mouse CD138	Biolegend	142502	1:200 concentration
Rat anti-mouse CD3 PE-eFluor 610	Thermo Fisher Scientific	61-0032-82	1:40 concentration
Rat anti-mouse CD4 Alexa Fluor 488	BioLegend	100529	1:200 concentration
Rat anti-mouse CD45 allophycocyanin-R700	BD Biosciences	565478	1:50 concentration
Rat anti-mouse IgD PerCP-eFluor 710	Thermo Fisher Scientific	46-5993-82	1:50 concentration
SP8 Confocal microscope	Leica
Triton X-100	Sigma	X100-500ml
Trueblack	Biotium	23007
Tween-20	Sigma	P7949-500ml
Ultracomp ebeads	Thermofisher	01-2222-42