Revealing t-tubules in striated muscle with new optical super-resolution microscopy techniques


Submitted: 9 October 2014
Accepted: 18 December 2014
Published: 24 December 2014
Abstract Views: 2921
PDF: 1385
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The t-tubular system plays a central role in the synchronisation of calcium signalling and excitation-contraction coupling in most striated muscle cells. Light microscopy has been used for imaging t-tubules for well over 100 years and together with electron microscopy (EM), has revealed the three-dimensional complexities of the t-system topology within cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle fibres from a range of species. The emerging super-resolution single molecule localisation microscopy (SMLM) techniques are offering a near 10-fold improvement over the resolution of conventional fluorescence light microscopy methods, with the ability to spectrally resolve nanometre scale distributions of multiple molecular targets. In conjunction with the next generation of electron microscopy, SMLM has allowed the visualisation and quantification of intricate t-tubule morphologies within large areas of muscle cells at an unprecedented level of detail. In this paper, we review recent advancements in the t-tubule structural biology with the utility of various microscopy techniques. We outline the technical considerations in adapting SMLM to study t-tubules and its potential to further our understanding of the molecular processes that underlie the sub-micron scale structural alterations observed in a range of muscle pathologies.

Isuru D. Jayasinghe, Biomedical Physics, University of Exeter
Associate research fellow, College of Physics, University of Exeter
Alexander H. Clowsley, Biomedical Physics, University of Exeter
PhD candidate, College of Physics, University of Exeter
Michelle Munro, Department of Physiology, The University of Auckland
PhD candidate, Dept of Physiology
Yufeng Hou, Department of Physiology, The University of Auckland
PhD candidate, Dept of Physiology
David J. Crossman, Department of Physiology, The University of Auckland
Research Fellow, Dept of Physiology
Christian Soeller, Biomedical Physics, University of Exeter, United Kingdom; Department of Physiology, The University of Auckland
Chair in Physical Cell Biology,
Biomedical Physics
Jayasinghe, I. D., Clowsley, A. H., Munro, M., Hou, Y., Crossman, D. J., & Soeller, C. (2014). Revealing t-tubules in striated muscle with new optical super-resolution microscopy techniques. European Journal of Translational Myology, 25(1), 15–26. https://doi.org/10.4081/ejtm.2015.4747

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