Rat Placenta Tissue Section

The rat placenta tissue section illustrated in the digital image above was labeled with wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) conjugated to Texas Red. WGA, which selectively binds to N-acetylglucosamine and N-acetylneuraminic (sialic acid) residues, is often used to target the Golgi network in fixed cells and tissues. The specimen was also labeled with Alexa Fluor 488 conjugated to phalloidin (targeting F-actin) and Hoechst 33342 (targeting DNA in the nucleus). 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.