Third harmonic generation imaging and analysis of the effect of low gravity on the lacuno-canalicular network of mouse bone

PLoS One. 2019 Jan 2;14(1):e0209079. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209079. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The lacuno-canalicular network (LCN) hosting the osteocytes in bone tissue represents a biological signature of the mechanotransduction activity in response to external biomechanical loading. Using third-harmonic generation (THG) microscopy with sub-micrometer resolution, we investigate the impact of microgravity on the 3D LCN structure in mice following space flight. A specific analytical procedure to extract the LCN characteristics from THG images is described for ex vivo studies of bone sections. The analysis conducted in different anatomical quadrants of femoral cortical bone didn't reveal any statistical differences between the control, habitat control and flight groups, suggesting that the LCN connectivity is not affected by one month space flight. However, significant variations are systematically observed within each sample. We show that our current lack of understanding of the extent of the LCN heterogeneity at the organ level hinders the interpretation of such investigations based on a limited number of samples and we discuss the implications for future biomedical studies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Ecosystem
  • Hypogravity*
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Microscopy, Confocal / methods*
  • Weightlessness

Grants and funding

The Russian Federal Space Agency and the Russian Academy of Science supported this project by flying the Bion-M1 space mission and organizing the post-flight operations. This work was part of a larger project of LV financially supported by the French National Centre for Space Study (CNES, grant 4800000899). AG and DD obtained the PhD grant for RG from the Université Grenoble Alpes (AGIR-AGI13SMI14, “Non-linear optical imaging of bone tissue”). Operational costs were supported by a grant from the Agence National de la Recherche under contracts ANR-13-BS09-0006-03 (AG). The consortium LabEx Tec 21 provided access to the confocal microscope (ANR-11-LABX-0030) and the THG measurements were performed using instruments funded by ANR-10-INBS-04 (France BioImaging), ANR-11-EQPX-0029 (Equipex Morphoscope2).