Laser capture microdissection for gene expression analysis of specific cell populations in single blastocysts.

Ward De Spiegelaere, Muriel Filliers, Ann Van Soom

Department of Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium. Ward.DeSpiegelaere@UGent.be

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2012

filter terms:

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) allows for the isolation of small tissue fractions from heterogeneous tissue sections, for downstream genetic or proteomic analysis without contamination by the surrounding tissue. This technique can also be successfully used for the isolation of small tissue fractions from developing embryos, such as expanding blastocysts. However, the small size of early-stage embryos hampers tissue processing prior to LCM. The present protocol describes the application of LCM to isolate specific cell fractions from blastocysts for downstream gene expression analysis with RT-PCR.

Citation

Ward De Spiegelaere, Muriel Filliers, Ann Van Soom. Laser capture microdissection for gene expression analysis of specific cell populations in single blastocysts. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.). 2012;853:29-37