Figure 1 of Bhatt, Mol Vis 2010; 16:283-293.


Figure 1. Confocal microscopy in conjunction with peanut agglutinin (PNA) staining allows differentiation between rods and cones in live explants. A: A schematic representation of the retina and its layers (ganglion cell layer [GCL], inner plexiform layer [IPL], inner nuclear layer [INL], outer plexiform layer [OPL], outer nuclear layer [ONL], inner and outer segments [IOS]) to illustrate the difference between a transverse section and a confocal slice. The image is a transverse section stained with rhodamine-PNA and Hoechst to allow comparison with the confocal images of B. The scale bar represents 25 μm. B: Hoechst/PNA staining of the ONL on a whole-mount retinal explant by confocal microscopy. Explants were cultured photoreceptor side facing down. Retinal whole mounts were stained with Hoechst/PNA for 1 h at 37 °C before live imaging by an inverted confocal microscope. PNA, the cone-specific marker, was used to bring the photoreceptor layer into focus. Slices preceding the PNA-stained layers are the Hoechst-positive nuclei in the ONL. These data are typical of at least three different experiments. Confocal slices collected were 1.6 μm thick. The scale bar represents 10 μm.