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Protein-retention expansion microscopy for visualizing subcellular organelles in fixed brain tissue.


ABSTRACT:

Background

Protein expansion microscopy (proExM) is a powerful technique that crosslinks proteins to a swellable hydrogel to physically expand and optically clear biological samples. The resulting increased resolution (~70 nm) and physical separation of labeled proteins make it an attractive tool for studying the localization of subcellular organelles in densely packed tissues, such as the brain. However, the digestion and expansion process greatly reduce fluorescence signals making it necessary to optimize ExM conditions per sample for specific end goals.

New method

Here we compare the staining and digestion conditions of existing proExM workflows to identify the optimal protocol for visualizing subcellular organelles (mitochondria and the Golgi apparatus) within reporter-labeled neurons in fixed mouse brain tissue.

Results

We found that immunostaining before proExM and using a proteinase K based digestion for 8 h consistently resulted in robust fluorescence retention for immunolabeled subcellular organelles and genetically-encoded reporters.

Comparison with existing methods

With these methods, we more accurately quantified mitochondria size and number and better visualized Golgi ultrastructure in individual CA2 neurons in the mouse hippocampus.

Conclusions

This organelle optimized proExM protocol will be broadly useful for investigators interested in visualizing the spatial distribution of immunolabeled subcellular organelles in various reporter mouse lines, reducing effort, time and resources on the optimization process.

SUBMITTER: Campbell LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8370715 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Protein-retention expansion microscopy for visualizing subcellular organelles in fixed brain tissue.

Campbell Logan A LA   Pannoni Katy E KE   Savory Niesha A NA   Lal Dinesh D   Farris Shannon S  

Journal of neuroscience methods 20210707


<h4>Background</h4>Protein expansion microscopy (proExM) is a powerful technique that crosslinks proteins to a swellable hydrogel to physically expand and optically clear biological samples. The resulting increased resolution (~70 nm) and physical separation of labeled proteins make it an attractive tool for studying the localization of subcellular organelles in densely packed tissues, such as the brain. However, the digestion and expansion process greatly reduce fluorescence signals making it n  ...[more]

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