doi:10.1369/jhc.5A6818.2006
Volume 54 (5): 559-565, 2006 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc. A Method to Perform Western Blots of Microscopic Areas of Histological Sections
Center for Neuropathology and Prion Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany Correspondence to: Hans A. Kretzschmar, Center for Neuropathology and Prion Research, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Feodor-Lynen-Str. 23, 81377, Munich, Germany. E-mail: Hans.Kretzschmar{at}med.uni-muenchen.de
Western blotting is one powerful research method to specifically detect proteins. However, it has been barely possible to investigate microscopic volumes of tissue so far because of the required minimum volumes and the pretreatment. Herein, we describe a method of performing Western blots directly from the histological section of frozen or paraffin-embedded tissue. Small histological areas of a mouse brain were lysed by section lysis buffer, subjected to a miniaturized SDS-PAGE, and detected by immunoblotting. Thereby, an area equivalent to only 15 cortical neurons of mouse cortex was detectable. This offers the possibility of correlating histological findings to biochemical investigations. In addition, enzymatic pretreatment was applied to identify the glycosylation of the major cleavage product of the prion protein. Moreover, the section lysis buffer is a sophisticated method to conserve and investigate phosphorylation sites as demonstrated here by phopsphorylated Akt and ERK. The presented technique combines histology with Western blotting techniques and will be of value for investigations of discrete tissue areas. (J Histochem Cytochem 54:559565, 2006)
Key Words: Western blotting immunoblotting histology lysis buffer prion protein phosphorylation Akt ERK
RESEARCH IN SCIENCE is based on knowledge and methods available in molecular biology. Western blotting is one powerful method to identify and characterize the expression of proteins, their molecular weight, and distinct activities. Separation of proteins by gel electrophoresis is made possible by soluble monomeric isoforms of proteins with definite charge (Laemmli 1970
During the past years, there have been numerous further developments regarding the indirect immunodetection by enzyme-linked or fluorescent staining methods (Gingrich et al. 2000
For example, solubilization of cell membranes with Triton X-100 increases with temperature and can also be used to separate the detergent-insoluble and highly cholesterol-enriched membrane complexes (DICs), which are functionally important platforms of cell signaling (Aplin et al. 1998
On the other hand, specific digestion prior to electrophoresis is used to unmask selective properties of proteins. For example, the misfolded and infectious isoform of the prion protein is detectable by its partial resistance to a digestion with protease that degrades the normal cellular prion protein (Prusiner et al. 1981
Microscopy of neuroanatomical structures or pathological findings of the brain on histological sections are of greatest importance. However, it is barely possible to investigate such microscopic material by Western blotting and to apply elaborate techniques of preparation and processing. Although there have been recent advances of small tissue removal by biopsy of mouse brain slices, the direct correlation to histological sections is still lacking (Barr et al. 2004
Histological Sections C57/BL6-129/sw male mice were kept under standard diurnal conditions and allowed access to food and water ad libitum in accordance with animal protection standards. Mice were sacrificed (declared to the government of Bavaria, Germany), and brains were quickly removed. For cryosections, brains were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen. Twenty-µm-thick coronal sections were taken with Cryostat (HM 360; Microm, Waldorf, Germany) from regions at bregma and were collected on prelabeled glass slides at 12C (SuperFrost Plus; Menzel, Braunschweig, Germany).
The freshly removed brains intended for paraffin-embedded tissue were cut in pieces of
Cell Lines and Cell Culture
Tissue Collection The amount of loss of section lysis buffer by air drying at room temperature was assessed by measuring the weight on a precision balance (CP224S; Sartorius AG, Göttingen, Germany). Solubilized tissue was collected and transferred into small tubes and heated in a PCR cycler (DNA thermal cycler; Perkin-Elmer, Norwalk, CT) for 10 min at 95C. For the deglycosylation experiments, a digestion with PNGase was performed according to standard protocols of the manufacturer (New England BioLabs; Frankfurt, Germany). The reaction was stopped by boiling in the PCR cycler for 10 min at 95C.
Collection of subconfluent cell cultures (1.06 cells per well) was carried out by discarding the medium and overlaying 300 µl/well of either Triton-based buffer [150 mM NaCl, 1% Triton X-100, 2.5 mM sodium pyrophosphate, 1 mM sodium orthovanadat, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM EGTA, 20 mM Tris, pH 7.5, one tablet protease inhibitor (Complete; Roche, Grenzach-Wyhlen, Germany) per 10 ml] or section lysis buffer. A short centrifugation step (16,000 x g, 10 min) followed to remove any cell debris. Aliquots of 20 µl (
Western Blotting and Immunodetection
Digital Imaging
Evaluation of Tissue Extraction from Cryosections and Paraffin-embedded Sections Tissue collection from histological sections was investigated first. In a Nissl-stained cryosection, an area of 10 mm2 was lysed by adding 20 µl of section lysis buffer as described above. The weight before and directly after adding 20 µl of lysis buffer was measured, resulting in an increase of 20.4 µg (high density of glycerol). Subsequently, the section was exposed to air at room temperature for 3 min leading to a weight loss of 0.9 µg (4%), although due to the solubilization of the tissue it would be possible to collect the tissue earlier. The lysed tissue was then drawn with a pipette, resulting in a remnant of 0.4 µg on the glass slide that represents a tissue collection of 98% completeness at room temperature. Samples were subjected to SDS-PAGE. A clear band was detected in the Western blot using a ß-actin antibody at 42 kDa.
Consequently, it was determined that the minimum area was still well detectable in Western blot. For this purpose, the area of a quarter of a coronal mouse brain section with 20 µm thickness (controlled by confocal laser microscopy) was quantified by digital imaging software and lysed with 2 µl/mm2. The collected sample was diluted several times by repeating a 1:1 dilution with section lysis buffer, resulting in a logarithmic series. Western blots stained for ß-actin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and synaptophysin are shown in Figure 1
. The corresponding size of the area of the coronal mouse brain section is calculated and given as additional information with the subheading. In 0.021 mm2, equivalent to a tissue volume of 42 nl, ß-actin was instantly recognizable. The corresponding staining of GFAP and synaptophysin was somewhat weaker but still detectable. Due to the enzymatic staining, by which the alkaline phosphatase is used up through forming of insoluble formazan products, the relation between the concentrations and the densities of the bands was fitted by a non-linear regression. A suitable correlation was found here with an exponential fit following (r2 = 0.98 for ß-actin):
The area of the Nissl-stained section sufficient to conduct detection of ß-actin is demonstrated in Figure 2 . The area of 0.021 mm2 is roughly equivalent to 15 cortical neurons of mouse cortex.
Additionally, Western blots were performed from sections of paraffin-embedded tissue, which was fixed by fixation solution HOPE. Dewaxed paraffin sections revealed similarly strong bands of ß-actin compared with the cryosections (data not shown).
Detecting Proteins in Different Brain Regions
Digestion of Collected Tissue The mouse prion protein has two moieties that are variably glycosylated. Figure 4 shows a Western blot with two lanes of tissue collected from the motor cortex at a height of bregma (each 1.5 mm2) that were incubated with the prion protein-specific antibody 6H4. A pattern of prion protein bands is visible in the left lane that includes the strongest band at 35 kDa and two bands with moderate intensity at 31 kDa and 27 kDa, which matches di-, mono-, and unglycosylated isoforms. An additional band at 25 kDa is observed just below the unglycosylated band corresponding to a cleavage product of the prion protein with unknown glycosylation. In the right lane, the collected tissue was therefore digested prior to Western blotting with PNGase F, which cleaves all glycosylation moieties. A single strong band is found here at 27 kDa reflecting the (now unglycosylated) full-length prion protein, and a second band with moderate intensity is presented at 16 kDa, corresponding to the unmasked major cleavage product of the prion protein (formerly 25 kDa). Additional cleavage products cause bands with weak intensities that are just visible at 20 kDa. Thus, an additional application of digestion with PNGase to the sample allows deductions of the amounts and glycosylation of cleavage products.
Western Blot of Phospho-Akt and Phospho-ERK The activity of kinases is mostly represented by phosphorylation at distinct residues with an instable short-lived character. To test the conservation of quick phosphorylations, a neuronal cell line was left untreated or stimulated with insulin and overlaid with either conventional ice-cold Triton-based buffer or section lysis buffer. The conventional lysate had a cloudy aspect in contrast to the clear lysate with section lysis. After a short centrifugation step to remove any cell debris, Western blots were performed with equal volume loading. The phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473 and ERK 1,2 at Thr202/Tyr204 was detected in the samples with a phosphospecific antibody at 52 kDa and 42 kDa/44 kDa, respectively. Protein loading was controlled by a staining of ß-actin. Samples based on section lysis buffer revealed the highest band intensities of phospho-Akt and phospho-ERK 1,2, but also ß-actin, corresponding to a high amount of proteins. As shown in Figure 5 , in the stimulated cells phosphorylation of Akt is clearly increased in comparison to the unstimulated cells presenting a low basal level (upper panel). The phosphorylation of ERK 1,2 is slightly raised in the stimulated cells, whereas the unstimulated cells have a well-detectable basal level (middle panel). Additionally, samples from (unstimulated) histological sections were tested, which reached low levels of phosphorylation in comparison to ß-actin.
The method of performing Western blots from histological sections provides an excellent tool for investigations of subregions of the brain. In the past, developments in Western blotting techniques mainly focused on increased sensitivity and emerged as an alternative to radioactivity. The indirect immunodetection by enzyme-coupled secondary antibodies allows generating enhanced fluorescing signals (chemoluminescence) (Whitehead et al. 1979 15 cortical neurons in a histological section. However, it should also be noted that the detection depends on the affinity of the antibody and expression of the respective protein.
Detectable minimum tissue allows investigating subregions in histological sections but requires special handling such as cooling to dewpoint to avoid air drying. The small amounts of sample volumes were, in fact, almost completely collected from histological sections but are not suitable for homogenization or centrifugation. Therefore, the section lysis buffer has to be capable of complete solubilization. The utilized SDS results in a lysate without visible fragments or clouding within minutes. After boiling the lysate, it has to be assumed that proteins are entirely solubilized. In combination with a strong reducing environment with agents such as dithiothreitol, section lysis buffer denatures several proteases and inhibits their activity, resulting in a very satisfactory extraction of protein both from cryosections and dewaxed sections (Wang et al. 1996
The method is demonstrated with three separated areas of a mouse brain section (motor cortex, hippocampus formation, and basal ganglia). The similar expression of ß-actin found in all samples represents an even protein loading, whereas the slightly divergent expression of S-100 and GFAP might correspond to the properties of neuroanatomical structures. S-100 protein is an acidic calcium-binding protein located predominantly in astroglial cells and less in oligodendrocytes (but also neurons) and might be released upon brain damage. Due to its association with these cells, the S-100 stain is most pronounced in the tissue of basal ganglia. Detection of GFAP in the mouse brain is accentuated in activated astrocytes, which are mostly present in basal ganglia and hippocampus (Schachner 1982 Some approaches might require particular pretreatments as shown here by deglycosylation of the cellular prion protein. In the untreated sample, multiple bands occur, and it is not possible to distinguish cleaved fragments by their molecular weight because of their unknown glycosylation as well as overlapping glycosylation patterns. However, from the digestion with PNGase F, it is concluded that there is a major cleavage product of the cellular prion protein that (a) accounts for about half of PrP full length, (b) is mostly diglycosylated, and (c) should therefore not be mistaken for the unglycosylated PrP full length in untreated sample, which migrates slightly higher as a discrete band.
In addition, other pretreatments might be applicable, such as mixing DNA cleaving enzymes to the section lysis buffer (benzonase 200 U/ml) to reduce the mucilaginous character of concentrated samples. The use of collagenase might be of interest for collagen-rich organs. For optimal enzymatic treatment, components in the section lysis buffer have to be reconsidered, especially concerning the pH or the strong reducing properties. On the other hand, the latter has an impact on the conservation of phosphorylation sites by inhibiting phosphatases. The section lysis buffer used here resulted in clear detection of phosphorylation of Akt and ERK 1,2 by specific antibody and therefore overcomes the problems of inhibitors and cooling with conventional lysis buffers. Moreover, lysis with section lysis buffer yields more proteins than with conventional lysis buffers. Recent studies preserved activities with a similar process of denaturation in cultured cell lines (Gil et al. 2003 We have developed a new technique whose major advantages are a satisfactory anatomical resolution and processing parallel to histological and immunhistological investigations. The ability of quantification in Western blot is superior to those of immunohistochmistry. Molecular weights can be determined, pretreatment like enzymatic digestion applied, and phosphorylations conserved. In conclusion, the described method of Western blotting of discrete microscopic regions in combination with other analytical methods will provide new insights into morphologic and functional relationships in the field of neuroscience and might also be used for other tissues.
We are grateful to Gertrud Kwiatkowski for excellent technical support and Dorothee Rieger and Nicole Weber for proofreading the manuscript.
Received for publication August 18, 2005; accepted December 8, 2005
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