Endogenous Two-Photon Excited Fluorescence Imaging Characterizes Neuron and Astrocyte Metabolic Responses to Manganese Toxicity

As neurodegenerative conditions are increasingly linked to mitochondrial dysfunction, methods for studying brain cell metabolism at high spatial resolution are needed to elucidate neurodegeneration mechanisms. Two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) imaging is a non-destructive, high-resolution technique for studying cell metabolism via endogenous fluorescence of reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). We employed TPEF to study the metabolism of primary rat astrocyte and neuronal cultures under normal growth conditions and in response to manganese (Mn) treatment. Histograms of pixel-wise optical redox ratio, defined as FAD/(FAD + NAD(P)H), revealed three distinct redox distributions and significant differences in their relative weights between astrocytes and neurons. When treated with Mn, both cell types exhibited redox ratio shifts consistent with increased oxidative stress. However, the manner in which the redox distributions was affected was distinct for the two cell types. Furthermore, NAD(P)H fluorescence lifetime imaging revealed an increase in bound NAD(P)H fraction upon Mn treatment for neurons, consistent with enhanced apoptosis. Astrocytes showed a decrease in bound fraction, possibly due to a shift towards glycolytic metabolism in response to impaired respiration. These results exhibit TPEF’s utility for characterizing detailed metabolic changes of different brain cell types in response to neurotoxins.