African Water Mongoose Skin Fibroblast Cells (A.P. Mongoose Line)

A culture of water mongoose fibroblast cells (illustrated above) was immunofluorescently labeled with primary anti-vinculin mouse monoclonal antibodies followed by goat anti-mouse Fab fragments conjugated to Texas Red. Vinculin is a protein associated with the cytoplasmic face of focal adhesions. In addition, the fixed and permeabilized culture was counterstained for DNA with the probe Hoechst 33258, and for the cytoskeletal filamentous actin network with Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated to phalloidin. Images were recorded in grayscale with a 12-bit digital camera coupled to either a Nikon E-600 or 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.