Single Cell Phenotyping Reveals Heterogeneity Among Hematopoietic Stem Cells Following Infection

• DOI: 10.1002/stem.2692
• Publication Date: 2017-08-22T14:24:36Z
• Authors: Adam L. MacLean; Maia A. Smith; Juliane Liepe; Aaron Sim; Reema Khorshed; Narges M. Rashidi; Nico Scherf; Axel Krinner; Ingo Roeder; Cristina Lo Celso; Michael P. H. Stumpf
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Mice; 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Phenotype; Cell Movement; Animals; Models, Theoretical; Hematopoietic Stem Cells; Infections

Abstract The hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche provides essential microenvironmental cues for the production and maintenance of HSCs within the bone marrow. During inflammation, hematopoietic dynamics are perturbed, but it is not known whether changes to the HSC–niche interaction occur as a result. We visualize HSCs directly in vivo, enabling detailed analysis of the 3D niche dynamics and migration patterns in murine bone marrow following Trichinella spiralis infection. Spatial statistical analysis of these HSC trajectories reveals two distinct modes of HSC behavior: (a) a pattern of revisiting previously explored space and (b) a pattern of exploring new space. Whereas HSCs from control donors predominantly follow pattern (a), those from infected mice adopt both strategies. Using detailed computational analyses of cell migration tracks and life-history theory, we show that the increased motility of HSCs following infection can, perhaps counterintuitively, enable mice to cope better in deteriorating HSC–niche microenvironments following infection.