Rat Kangaroo Cell Intermediate Filaments

Texas Red HYQ Bandpass Emission (Wide Bandwidth Excitation) Yellow Set

Fluorescence emission intensity from a culture of rat kangaroo kidney (PtK2 line) epithelial cells that were immunofluorescently labeled with primary anti-vimentin (an intermediate filament protein) mouse monoclonal antibodies followed by goat anti-mouse Fab fragments conjugated to rhodamine Red. The visible light absorption maximum of rhodamine Red is 570 nanometers and the emission maximum occurs at 590 nanometers. Vimentins represent a class of water-insoluble proteins, along with desmin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and peripherin, which form intermediate filaments and help to mechanically stabilize the cell. In addition, the specimen was simultaneously stained for nuclear DNA with DAPI. Note the absence of signal from the blue fluorophore (DAPI), which is not efficiently excited by yellow light, but the high level of red fluorescence intensity from the rhodamine-labeled vimentin intermediate filament network.