Colon polyps and cancer are much more prevalent in industrialized western societies than other parts of the world. It is generally thought that the western diet, which tends to be low in fruits, vegetables, and roughage, is largely responsible. Smoking, drinking, obesity, and lack of exercise have also been associated with an increased risk of tumors and polyps in the colon. Individuals at particularly high risk of developing colon cancer, such as those who have a first-degree relative with inflammatory bowel disease or colon cancer, are often recommended to undergo regular colonoscopic screenings after they reach a certain age. The earlier colon cancer is detected, the better the chance that the disease can be cured.

In the digital image above, a rat colon tissue section is presented that was labeled with the fluorophore Texas Red conjugated to wheat germ agglutinin, a fluorescent lectin that selectively binds to sialic acid residues. Wheat germ agglutinin conjugates are often used as probes for the Golgi network in mammalian tissues and cells. The sample was also stained with Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated to phalloidin and Hoechst 33342, which target F-actin and DNA, respectively. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to a Nikon Eclipse 80i microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.