Application of Plastic Embedding for Sectioning Whole-Mount Immunostained Early Vertebrate Embryos

Development of tissues and organs relies on the constant interplay of intracellular events and molecules in the microenvironment of the cells. Dynamics of patterning of molecules in a spatiotemporal manner become important in understanding any developing system. Immunohistochemistry has become an important technique for the study of specific proteins in the early embryo. Ability to localize molecules in the embryo with the greatest resolution possible provides much critical information regarding intracellular and extracellular localization of specific molecules and changes in their patterning over time. For example, an apical or basal cellular localization of a molecule may be critical in relation to its function. Thus, the definition and correlation of the spatiotemporal patterns of protein expression in the developing embryo with events of morphogenesis may give useful information on the possible roles of these molecules. Such analyses will provide a more precise basis for further experimentation.