Figure 2 | Scientific Reports

Figure 2

From: Quantitative expansion microscopy for the characterization of the spectrin periodic skeleton of axons using fluorescence microscopy

Figure 2

Expansion microscopy reveals the periodic distribution of βII-spectrin in axons. (a) Scheme summarizing the different steps of the ExM protocol used for axonal βII-spectrin. (b) The immunofluorescence against βII-spectrin shows no evident periodicity in its distribution before expansion (left). The trace below is an intensity profile across the image shown. After expansion, the fluorescent-labeled antibodies disperse ~4 times in each dimension and the images obtained are scaled to depict pre-expansion dimensions (right), the signal shows the expected periodicity at ~190 nm. Scale bar: 760 nm, subdivided in 4, 190 nm segments. (c) Periodicity values in DRG sensory axons obtained by STED, and expansion microscopy. Expansion microscopy pre-expansion dimensions were calculated using the factor obtained by measuring the gel block or the microtubule network around nuclei. The gray line at 190 nm summarizes the values of periods obtained before for sensory neurons, as cited in the figure. We measured 30 periods per group, in 1 µm segments.

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