Open AccessNon-reversible tissue fixation retains extracellular vesicles for in situ imaging
Author(s) -
Mrinali P. Gupta,
Sangeetha Tandalam,
Shariss Ostrager,
Alexander S. Lever,
Angus R. Fung,
David D. Hurley,
Gemstonn Alegre,
Jasmin E. Espinal,
H. Lawrence Remmel,
Sushmita Mukherjee,
Benjamin Levine,
Russell P. Robins,
Henrik Molina,
Brian D. Dill,
Candia M. Kenific,
Thomas Tuschl,
David Lyden,
Donald J. D’Amico,
John Pena
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
nature methods
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 19.469
H-Index - 318
eISSN - 1548-7105
pISSN - 1548-7091
DOI - 10.1038/s41592-019-0623-4
Subject(s) - extracellular , vesicle , carbodiimide , fixation (population genetics) , extracellular vesicles , in situ , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , microvesicles , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , microrna , membrane , organic chemistry , gene
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are secreted nanosized particles with many biological functions and pathological associations. The inability to image EVs in fixed tissues has been a major limitation to understanding their role in healthy and diseased tissue microenvironments. Here, we show that crosslinking mammalian tissues with formaldehyde results in significant EV loss, which can be prevented by additional fixation with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) for visualization of EVs in a range of normal and cancer tissues.