Figure 1. Mel1a, Mel1b, and Mel1c immunocytochemistry of cryostat sections and whole mounts of Xenopus laevis corneal epithelium. A-C: Cryostat sections of corneas obtained during the light period were immunolabeled with Mel1a, Mel1b, or Mel1c receptor antibodies. Arrows in panel A indicate the immunolabeled plasma membranes of the surface epithelium. D: The control specimen was processed in the absence of primary antibody. E-G: Whole mount preparations of corneas obtained during the light period were immunolabeled with Mel1a, Mel1b, or Mel1c receptor antibodies. H: The control whole mount specimen was processed in the absence of primary antibody. Primary antibodies were labeled with secondary antibody conjugated to AlexaFluor 488 (green fluorescence). Most of the Mel1a receptor labeling (A and E) occurs in the lateral plasma membrane of the surface epithelium, whereas there is a higher proportion of Mel1b (B and F) and Mel1c (C and G) labeling also present in cytoplasmic compartments in addition to the lateral membranes. Note that no specific immunolabeling is detected in the control specimens (D and H). Nuclei are stained with DAPI. The magnification bar (H) represents 20 µm.