Two- or Three-Dimensional Imagings of Simultaneous Visualization of Rat Pituitary Hormone and Its mRNA: Comparison between Electron Microscopy and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy with Semiconductor Nanocrystals (Quantum dots)

摘要

Semiconductor nanocrystals (Quantum dots, Qdots) have recently been used in biological research, since they do not fade upon exposure to light, enabling us to obtain multicolor imaging due to a narrow emission peak that can be excited via a single wavelength of light. Utilizing the advantages of Qdot and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we can obtain three-dimensional images of the intracellular localization of growth hormone and mRNA in a pituitary cell. The previous method of combined in situ hybridization (ISH) and immuno-histochemistry (IHC) under electron microscopy has sufficient ultrastructural resolution, but can provide only two-dimensional images. By contrast, ISH and IHC using Qdots and CLSM can optimally illustrate the simultaneous relationship between protein and mRNA in three dimensions. Such an approach enables us to better visualize functional images of proteins in relation to mRNA synthesis and localization.