Reactive Oxygen Species Imaging in a Mouse Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

PURPOSE: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important contributors to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); however, there are insufficient tools for their in vivo evaluation. PROCEDURES: To determine if a chemiluminescent ROS reporter, coelenterazine, would be a useful tool for the detection of immune cell activation, the macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7) was treated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Additionally, coelenterazine was used to monitor the changes in ROS production over time in a mouse model of IBD. RESULTS: In vitro, coelenterazine enabled the dynamic monitoring of the RAW 264.7 cell oxidative burst. In vivo, there were early, preclinical, changes in the localization and magnitude of coelenterazine chemiluminescent foci. CONCLUSIONS: Coelenterazine offers a high-throughput method for assessing immune cell activation in culture and provides a means for the in vivo detection and localization of ROS during IBD disease progression.