title: Development of a simple, cost-effective, semi-correlative light and electron microscopy method to allow the immunoelectron localisation of non-uniformly distributed placental proteins.
abstract: Immunoelectron microscopy is wrought with technical limitations that complicate its use. However, advances in correlative light and electron microscopy have recently lead to improvements in this field. We report the development of a semi-correlative approach to investigate the ultrastructural location of an antiphospholipid antibody within the syncytiotrophoblast. This method offers several advantages over existing methodologies, since it preserves antigenicity, shows good immunolabel penetrability and does not require specialized equipment. The use of a pre-embedding screen has also allowed us to target individual placental villi and overcome sampling limitations of the electron microscope. This simple, cost-effective method is likely to find widespread application in placental research.
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand. Electronic address: c.viall@auckland.ac.nz.
authors: C A
authors: CA
authors: Viall
authors: Biomedical Imaging Research Unit, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Holloway
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors: Q
authors: Q
authors: Chen
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, New Zealand.
authors: P R
authors: PR
authors: Stone
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, 85 Park Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; Gravida: National Centre for Growth and Development, New Zealand.
authors: L W
authors: LW
authors: Chamley
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017152:Antibodies, Antiphospholipid / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D014327:Trophoblasts / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D017152:Antibodies, Antiphospholipid; D011257:Pregnancy Proteins
keywords: Antiphospholipid antibody; Correlative microscopy; Electron microscopy; Immunoelectron; Placenta; Syncytiotrophoblast