Demonstration of glutamate-like immunoreactivity at rat neuromuscular junctions by quantitative electron microscopic immunocytochemistry

1993 ◽  
Vol 188 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
O. W�rhaug ◽  
O.P. Ottersen
Author(s):  
Veronika Burmeister ◽  
N. Ludvig ◽  
P.C. Jobe

Electron microscopic immunocytochemistry provides an important tool to determine the ultrastructural distribution of various molecules in both normal and pathologic tissues. However, the specific immunostaining may be obscured by artifactual immunoreaction product, misleading the investigator. Previous observations show that shortening the incubation period with the primary antibody from the generally used 12-24 hours to 1 hour substantially reduces the artifactual immunostaining. We now extend this finding by the demonstration of artifact-free ultrastructural localization of the Ca2/calmodulindependent cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (CaM-dependent PDE) immunoreactivity in brain.Anesthetized rats were perfused transcardially with phosphate-buffered saline followed by a fixative containing paraformaldehyde (4%) and glutaraldehyde (0.25%) in PBS. The brains were removed, and 40μm sections were cut with a vibratome. The sections were processed for immunocytochemistry as described by Ludvig et al. Both non-immune rabbit serum and specific CaM-dependent PDE antibodies were used. In both experiments incubations were at one hour and overnight. The immunostained sections were processed for electron microscopic examination.


Author(s):  
D. J. McComb ◽  
N. Ryan ◽  
E. Horvath ◽  
K. Kovacs ◽  
E. Nagy ◽  
...  

Conventional light and electron microscopic techniques failed to clarify the cellular composition and derivation of spontaneous and induced, intrasellar and transplanted pituitary adenomas in rats (1). In the present work, electron microscopic immunocytochemistry was applied to evaluate five adenohypo-physial tumors using a technique described by Moriarty and Garner (2). Spontaneously occurring pituitary adenomas (group 1) were harvested from aging female Long-Evans rats. R-Amsterdam rats were treated with 2 x 1.0 mg estrone acetate (HogivaI) s.c. weekly for 6 months. Pituitary adenomas in excess of 30 mg were removed from these animals to make up the tumors of group 2. Groups 3 and 4 consisted of estrogen-induced autonomous transplan¬ted pituitary tumors MtT.WlO and MtT.F4. Group 5 was a radiation-induced transplanted autonomous pituitary tumor MtT.W5. The tumors of groups 3,4 and 5 were allowed to proliferate in host rats 6-8 weeks prior to removal for processing. Tissue was processed for transmission electron microscopy (glutaraldehyde fixation, OsO4 postfixation and epoxy resin embedding), and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry (3% paraformaldehyde fixation and Araldite embedding).


1984 ◽  
Vol 302 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Ibata ◽  
F. Kawakami ◽  
K. Fukui ◽  
H.L. Obata-Tsuto ◽  
M. Tanaka ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 4048-4057 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Koenig ◽  
Kazuo Ikeda

We previously demonstrated that the tergotrochanteral muscle (TTM) of Drosophila is innervated by unique synapses that possess a small readily releasable/recycling vesicle population (active zone population), but not the larger reserve vesicle population observed at other neuromuscular junctions in this animal. Using light and electron microscopic techniques and intracellular recording from the G1 muscle fiber of the TTM, the release and recycling characteristics of the readily releasable/recycling population were observed without any possible contribution from a reserve population. Our results indicate 1) the total number of vesicles in synapses presynaptic to the G1 fiber correlates with the total number of quanta that can be released onto this fiber; 2) the number of quanta released by a single action potential onto the G1 fiber is about one half the number of morphologically “docked” vesicles in active zones onto the G1, and this ratio decreases in a partially depleted state; 3) the recycling rate at 1-Hz stimulation, a frequency that does not cause any depression, is 0.24 recycled vesicle/active zone/s; and 4) normal-appearing spontaneous release occurs from the active zone vesicle population and, unlike synapses that possess a reserve population, the frequency of this release is reduced after high-frequency evoked activity.


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