Laser Capture Microscopy as an Aid to Ultrastructural Analysis

Extract

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) is a technique that provides homogenous cell populations for molecular and light microscopic analysis. During viewing by a standard wide-field microscope, a specific cell is selected. Heat from a near-infrared laser melts an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) transparent film which bonds to the individual selected cell. Several thousand cells can be selected and captured using this method. A homogeneous subpopulation of cells may be collected, one at a time, by histologic characteristics and/or histochemical staining from frozen sections, deparaffinized tissue, cell cultures or a blood smear.

Previously, this technique has primarily been used to capture cells for DNA or RNA analysis. This study was undertaken to investigate the possibility of capturing a subpopulation of cultured cells in order to study their ultrastructure with the transmission electron microscope (TEM). We report here that cultured cells can be processed, captured and embedded for electron microscopy, in such a manner as to maintain ultrastructure.