title: Morphological analysis of neuromuscular junctions by immunofluorescent staining of whole-mount mouse diaphragms.
abstract: Immunofluorescence or IF is a technique allowing the visualization of a specific protein or antigen in cells or tissues by binding a specific antibody chemically conjugated with a fluorescence dye. Immunofluorescent staining is widely used in life science research, particularly for neuroscience. Here, we describe the immunofluorescent staining of whole-mount neonatal mouse diaphragms to study the morphological patterns of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) by using of presynaptic neuronal marker-neurofilament (NF) and synaptophysin antibodies; postsynaptic acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) were labeled with Alexa Fluor 594-conjugated α-bungarotoxin (α-BTX). Immunofluorescence-stained diaphragms were examined under a confocal microscope.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D003964:Diaphragm / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology; D004210:Dissection; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000166:cytology; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D016707:Tissue Fixation