title: A whole-mount immunofluorescence protocol for three-dimensional imaging of the embryonic mammary primordium.
abstract: Whole-mount immunofluorescent staining facilitates the profiling of protein expression patterns within diverse and complex tissues. Thanks to the application of antibodies on whole mounted instead of sectioned specimens, this technique has many advantages with respect to the preservation of biological and pathological features of specimens when compared to conventional immunohistological methods. Here, we describe a protocol and optimal conditions of whole-mount immunofluorescence for studying the formation of mammary primordia. We also show an example three-dimensional reconstruction of a mammary primordium based on z-stacked images of a whole-mount stained specimen using confocal microscopy and image analysis software.
authors: Division of Breast Cancer Research, Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, 237 Fulham Road, London, SW3 6JB, UK.
authors: Naoko
authors: N
authors: Kogata
authors: Beatrice A
authors: BA
authors: Howard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000196:embryology*; D042361:Mammary Glands, Human / Q000196:embryology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software
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