Cell Tracking for Organoids: Lessons From Developmental Biology

Abstract

Organoids have emerged as powerful model systems to study organ development and regeneration at the cellular level. Recently developed microscopy techniques that track individual cells through space and time hold great promise to elucidate the organizational principles of organs and organoids. Applied extensively in the past decade to embryo development and 2D cell cultures, cell tracking can reveal the cellular lineage trees, proliferation rates, and their spatial distributions, while fluorescent markers indicate differentiation events and other cellular processes. Here, we review a number of recent studies that exemplify the power of this approach, and illustrate its potential to organoid research. We will discuss promising future routes, and the key technical challenges that need to be overcome to apply cell tracking techniques to organoid biology.

Engineering Brain Organoids: Toward Mature Neural Circuitry with an Intact Cytoarchitecture

“…This concept is in line with ‘cell tracking,’ which follows each developing cell in real-time and draws complete lineage trees to monitor spatiotemporal developmental dynamics ( Fig. 4C ) ( 121 ).…”

The Future of Genetic Disease Studies: Assembling an Updated Multidisciplinary Toolbox

“…Although currently used in only a few studies, techniques such as superresolution ( Sumya et al, 2021 ; Zimmer et al, 2022 ) and light-sheet ( Adhya et al, 2021 ) microscopies are already showing high value for genetic disease research. In addition, other important technical approaches used in various disciplines such as intravital microscopy ( Frattolin et al, 2021 ), cell tracking ( Betjes et al, 2021 ), atomic force microscopy ( Dufrêne and Pelling, 2013 ; Sharma et al, 2018 ), single molecule imaging ( Liu et al, 2022 ) and cryoelectron microscopy ( Douguet et al, 2019 ) or tomography ( Shoemark, 2017 ) are expected to increase in utilization for mechanistic studies related to genetic diseases.…”

What We Have Learned from Animal Models to Understand the Etiology and Pathology of Endometrioma-Related Infertility

“…Combing with genome engineering, it allows genetic intervention and modification for identifying therapeutic targets for further investigation. Besides, the lineage tracing in organoids provides information on cell dynamics, which may be related to the onset, progression, and pathogenesis of endometriosis [ 71 ]. Despite the recent development of this technology, there is a lack of studies investigating endometriosis-associated infertility based on organoids.…”