Efficacy of the fluorescent dyes Fast Blue, Fluoro-Gold, and Diamidino Yellow for retrograde tracing to dorsal root ganglia after subcutaneous injection.
The present study was designed to investigate the efficacy of the fluorescent dyes Fast Blue (FB), Fluoro-Gold (FG), and Diamidino Yellow (DY) for retrograde tracing of lumbar dorsal root ganglia after their subcutaneous injection into different hindlimb digits. Injections of equal volumes (0.5 microl) of 51% FB or 2% FG resulted in similar mean numbers of sensory neurones labelled by each tracer. Injection of equal volumes (0.5 microl) of FB or FG in a single digit followed 10 days later by a second injection of the same volume of 5% DY into the same digit resulted in similar mean numbers of labelled sensory neurones for each of the three tracers. Furthermore, on average, 75% of all the FB-labelled cells and 74% of all FG-labelled cells also contained DY. Repeating the same experiment with an increased volume of DY (1.5 microl) resulted in an increase in the mean number of double-labelled profiles to 82 and 84% for FB and FG, respectively. The results show that FB, FG and DY label similar numbers of cutaneous afferents and that a high level of double labelling may be obtained after sequential injections in digits. These properties make them suitable candidates in investigations where a combination of tracers with similar labelling efficacies is needed.
Puigdellívol-Sánchez
A
A
Department of Morphological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain.
Prats-Galino
A
A
Ruano-Gil
D
D
Molander
C
C
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D005456:Fluorescent Dyes