Simultaneous visualization of flow fields and oxygen concentrations to unravel transport and metabolic processes in biological systems

Abstract

From individual cells to whole organisms, O(2) transport unfolds across micrometer- to millimeter-length scales and can change within milliseconds in response to fluid flows and organismal behavior. The spatiotemporal complexity of these processes makes the accurate assessment of O(2) dynamics via currently available methods difficult or unreliable. Here, we present “sensPIV,” a method to simultaneously measure O(2) concentrations and flow fields. By tracking O(2)-sensitive microparticles in flow using imaging technologies that allow for instantaneous referencing, we measured O(2) transport within (1) microfluidic devices, (2) sinking model aggregates, and (3) complex colony-forming corals. Through the use of sensPIV, we find that corals use ciliary movement to link zones of photosynthetic O(2) production to zones of O(2) consumption. SensPIV can potentially be extendable to study flow-organism interactions across many life-science and engineering applications