A High-Throughput Automated Confocal Microscopy Platform for Quantitative Phenotyping of Nanoparticle Uptake and Transport in Spheroids

There is a high demand for advanced, image-based, automated high-content screening (HCS) approaches to facilitate phenotypic screening in 3D cell culture models. A major challenge lies in retaining the resolution of fine cellular detail but at the same time imaging multicellular structures at a large scale. In this study, a confocal microscopy-based HCS platform in optical multiwell plates that enables the quantitative morphological profiling of populations of nonuniform spheroids obtained from HT-29 human colorectal cancer cells is described. This platform is then utilized to demonstrate a quantitative dissection of the penetration of synthetic nanoparticles (NP) in multicellular 3D spheroids at multiple levels of scale. A pilot RNA interference-based screening validates this methodology and identifies a subset of RAB GTPases that regulate NP trafficking in these spheroids. This technology is suitable for high-content phenotyping in 3D cell-based screening, providing a framework for nanomedicine drug development as applied to translational oncology.