Abstract
Eighty years after its development, electron microscopy still represents the gold standard in terms of resolution. A major disadvantage is, however, the requirement for fixed specimens—especially in view of the numerous live fluorescence microscopy methods that have been developed during the last few decades. This drawback can be largely compensated by combining both microscopy techniques, live imaging and electron microscopy, by transforming a fluorescent signal into one that can be visualized in the electron microscope. This can be achieved by employing photooxidation. This procedure uses the production of reactive oxygen species by excited fluorescent dyes to oxidize the substrate diaminobenzidine, which in turn forms an electron-dense precipitate in the immediate proximity of the dye. In this chapter, we explain the photooxidation protocol in detail, focusing mainly on FM dyes as markers of membrane trafficking, especially in synaptic physiology. We also discuss the use of numerous other labels for photooxidation applications. We conclude that this approach is applicable to a wide variety of cellular targets and processes and therefore has a great potential in linking diffraction-limited light imaging to the high resolution of electron microscopy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Donnert G, Keller J, Medda R et al (2006) Macromolecular-scale resolution in biological fluorescence microscopy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103(31):11440–11445
Wildanger D, Medda R, Kastrup L et al (2009) A compact STED microscope providing 3D nanoscale resolution. J Microsc 236(1):35–43
Sudhof TC (2004) The synaptic vesicle cycle. Annu Rev Neurosci 27:509–547
Ceccarelli B, Hurlbut WP, Mauro A (1973) Turnover of transmitter and synaptic vesicles at the frog neuromuscular junction. J Cell Biol 57(2):499–524
Novikoff AB (1963) Lysosomes in the physiology and pathology of cells: contributions of staining methods. In: de Rueck AVS, Cameron MP (eds) Ciba foundation symposium-lysosomes. Little, Brown and Company, Boston
Sambrook J, Russell DW (2001) Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor
Graham RC Jr, Karnovsky MJ (1966) The early stages of absorption of injected horseradish peroxidase in the proximal tubules of mouse kidney: ultrastructural cytochemistry by a new technique. J Histochem Cytochem 14(4):291–302
Heuser JE, Reese TS (1973) Evidence for recycling of synaptic vesicle membrane during transmitter release at the frog neuromuscular junction. J Cell Biol 57(2):315–344
Ceccarelli B, Hurlbut WP, Mauro A (1972) Depletion of vesicles from frog neuromuscular junctions by prolonged tetanic stimulation. J Cell Biol 54(1):30–38
Holtzman E, Freeman AR, Kashner LA (1971) Stimulation-dependent alterations in peroxidase uptake at lobster neuromuscular junctions. Science 173(998):733–736
Teichberg S, Holtzman E, Crain SM et al (1975) Circulation and turnover of synaptic vesicle membrane in cultured fetal mammalian spinal cord neurons. J Cell Biol 67(1):215–230
Schacher S, Holtzman E, Hood DC (1976) Synaptic activity of frog retinal photoreceptors. A peroxidase uptake study. J Cell Biol 70(1):178–192
Gennaro JF Jr, Nastuk WL, Rutherford DT (1978) Reversible depletion of synaptic vesicles induced by application of high external potassium to the frog neuromuscular junction. J Physiol 280:237–247
Maranto AR (1982) Neuronal mapping: a photooxidation reaction makes Lucifer yellow useful for electron microscopy. Science 217(4563):953–955
Sandell JH, Masland RH (1988) Photoconversion of some fluorescent markers to a diaminobenzidine product. J Histochem Cytochem 36(5):555–559
Deerinck TJ, Martone ME, Lev-Ram V et al (1994) Fluorescence photooxidation with eosin: a method for high resolution immunolocalization and in situ hybridization detection for light and electron microscopy. J Cell Biol 126(4):901–910
Denker A, Rizzoli SO (2010) Synaptic vesicle pools: an update. Front Syn Neurosci 2:135. doi:10.3389/fnsyn.2010.00135
Opazo F, Rizzoli SO (2010) Studying synaptic vesicle pools using photoconversion of styryl dyes. J Vis Exp 36. http://www.jove.com/details.php?id=1790. doi:10.3791/1790
Smith JE, Reese TS (1980) Use of aldehyde fixatives to determine the rate of synaptic transmitter release. J Exp Biol 89:19–29
Grabenbauer M, Geerts WJ, Fernadez-Rodriguez J et al (2005) Correlative microscopy and electron tomography of GFP through photooxidation. Nat Methods 2(11):857–862
Monosov EZ, Wenzel TJ, Luers GH et al (1996) Labeling of peroxisomes with green fluorescent protein in living P. pastoris cells. J Histochem Cytochem 44(6):581–589
Denker A, Krohnert K, Rizzoli SO (2009) Revisiting synaptic vesicle pool localization in the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. J Physiol 587(Pt 12):2919–2926
Denker A, Bethani I, Krohnert K et al (2011) A small pool of vesicles maintains synaptic activity in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108(41):17177–17182
Harata N, Ryan TA, Smith SJ et al (2001) Visualizing recycling synaptic vesicles in hippocampal neurons by FM 1-43 photoconversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98(22):12748–12753
Rizzoli SO, Betz WJ (2004) The structural organization of the readily releasable pool of synaptic vesicles. Science 303(5666):2037–2039
de Lange RP, de Roos AD, Borst JG (2003) Two modes of vesicle recycling in the rat calyx of Held. J Neurosci 23(31):10164–10173
Darcy KJ, Staras K, Collinson LM et al (2006) Constitutive sharing of recycling synaptic vesicles between presynaptic boutons. Nat Neurosci 9(3):315–321
Richards DA, Guatimosim C, Rizzoli SO et al (2003) Synaptic vesicle pools at the frog neuromuscular junction. Neuron 39(3):529–541
Hoopmann P, Punge A, Barysch SV et al (2010) Endosomal sorting of readily releasable synaptic vesicles. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(44):19055–19060
Bulina ME, Chudakov DM, Britanova OV et al (2006) A genetically encoded photosensitizer. Nat Biotechnol 24(1):95–99
Gaietta G, Deerinck TJ, Adams SR et al (2002) Multicolor and electron microscopic imaging of connexin trafficking. Science 296(5567):503–507
Shu X, Lev-Ram V, Deerinck TJ et al (2011) A genetically encoded tag for correlated light and electron microscopy of intact cells, tissues, and organisms. PLoS Biol 9(4):e1001041
Micheva KD, Smith SJ (2007) Array tomography: a new tool for imaging the molecular architecture and ultrastructure of neural circuits. Neuron 55(1):25–36
Watanabe S, Punge A, Hollopeter G, Willig KI, Hobson RJ, Davis MW, Hell SW, Jorgensen EM (2011) Protein localization in electron micrographs using fluorescence nanoscopy. Nat Methods 8(1):80–84
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Denker, A., Rizzoli, S.O. (2014). Photooxidation Microscopy: Bridging the Gap Between Fluorescence and Electron Microscopy. In: Fornasiero, E., Rizzoli, S. (eds) Super-Resolution Microscopy Techniques in the Neurosciences. Neuromethods, vol 86. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-983-3_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-983-3_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ
Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-982-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-983-3
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols