Labeling Gastric Tissue with Fluorescent Probes Conjugated to Phallotoxins and Lectins

In the digital image above, a rat stomach tissue section excised from the pylorus region is presented that was labeled with the fluorophore Oregon Green 488 conjugated to wheat germ agglutinin, targeting the Golgi network. The sample was also labeled with Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to phalloidin in order to target filamentous actin and with Hoechst 33342 to counterstain nuclear DNA. 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.