Novel optical imaging system tracks toxicity via DNA accumulation

A preclinical imaging system that takes conventional microscopy and transforms it into a molecular imaging platform uses fluorescence and luminescence as well as radioisotope biomarkers and high resolution x-ray. The technique is called intravital microscopy, according to a study published online July 12 in Hepatology.

Pedro Elias Marques, co-author of the study and a researchers with the department of morphology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Gerais, Brazil, and colleagues have shown how intravital microscopy provides information about toxicity in the liver, brain, heart, lung and kidney.

For this study, the researchers looked specifically at extracellular DNA accumulated in the liver as a sign of an inflammatory and auto-immune response to confirm drug-induced liver injury (DILI). The knowledge could lead to new and more specific drug therapies.

“We described that hepatic DNA accumulation is a novel feature of DILI pathogenesis and blockage of DNA recognition by the innate immune system may consist in a promising therapeutic venue,” concluded the authors.

Images gleaned from intravital microscopy showed a host of destroyed DNA material resulting from DILI. Researchers are now aiming to develop an enzymatic therapy that could be administered prior to organ transplantation to improve chances of successful liver transplant.