Specimen Preparation Using Synthetic Fluorophores and Immunofluorescence

Adherent Normal Tahr Ovary (HJ1.Ov) Epithelial Cell

Adherent Normal Tahr Ovary (HJ1.Ov) Epithelial Cell

Presented above is a merged confocal image stack (4 optical sections) revealing the nucleus, mitochondria, and filamentous actin network in a normal Himalayan Tahr ovary (HJ1.Ov line) epithelial cell. The adherent cell culture was stained using MitoTracker Red CMXRos in the growth medium (red), followed by phalloidin conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488, which targets polymerized actin (green). Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst 33342. The specimen was imaged with a 100x oil immersion objective (without zoom) using the largest pinhole diameter setting on an Olympus FluoView FV1000 in combination with a 405-nanometer violet diode laser (Hoechst), a 488-nanometer argon-ion laser (Alexa Fluor 488), and a 543-nanometer helium-neon laser (MitoTracker). The images were sequentially collected in grayscale channels and subsequently pseudocolored with hues approximating the fluorescence emission spectra of the respective probes. Although this fluorophore combination produces useful images, other probes absorbing in the infrared (such as MitoTracker Deep Red 633 and the TO-PRO-3 nuclear dye) can be employed with equal success.

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