Bringing SEM and MSI Closer Than Ever Before: Visualizing Aspergillus and Pseudomonas Infection in the Rat Lungs.

ABSTRACT: A procedure for processing frozen rat lung tissue sections for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) from deeply frozen samples initially collected and stored for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI) was developed. The procedure employed slow thawing of the frozen sections while floating on the surface and melting in a fixative solution. After the float-washing step, the sections were dehydrated in a graded ethanol series and dried in a critical point dryer. The SEM generated images with well-preserved structures, allowing for monitoring of bacterial cells and fungal hyphae in the infected tissue. Importantly, the consecutive nonfixed frozen sections were fully compatible with MALDI-MSI, providing molecular biomarker maps of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

SUBMITTER: Jurikova T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7711807 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature