Mouse Kidney Tissue
Phalloidin is a phallotoxin isolated from the highly poisonous Amanita phalloides mushroom that binds polymerized actin (F-actin). Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to phalloidin was utilized to target the filamentous actin in the mouse kidney tissue sample presented in the digital image above. Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated to the lectin wheat germ agglutinin and the nucleic acid stain DAPI were also employed to label the specimen. 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.