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Alcian Blue Staining to Visualize Intracellular Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nanoparticles

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Histochemistry of Single Molecules

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2566))

Abstract

Investigating at transmission electron microscopy the intracellular trafficking of hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles remains a challenge due to their intrinsic weak electron density. Here we describe a simple protocol to stain hyaluronic acid that allows visualization of hyaluronic acid-based nanoparticles inside cells at both light and electron microscopy. By applying the critical-electrolyte-concentration Alcian blue method, these nanoparticles were observed as blue dots at bright-field microscopy or filled with fine electron dense precipitates at transmission electron microscopy.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Mathieu Repellin and Flavia Carton contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, Anatomy and Histology Section, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Mathieu Repellin, Flavia Carton & Manuela Malatesta

  2. Laboratoire d’Automatique, de Génie des Procédés et de Génie Pharmaceutique, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France

    Mathieu Repellin & Giovanna Lollo

  3. University of Eastern Piedmont, Department of Health Sciences, Novara, Italy

    Flavia Carton

Authors
  1. Mathieu Repellin
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  2. Flavia Carton
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  3. Giovanna Lollo
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  4. Manuela Malatesta
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathieu Repellin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, PAVIA, Italy

    Carlo Pellicciari

  2. Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, PAVIA, Italy

    Marco Biggiogera

  3. Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, VERONA, Italy

    Manuela Malatesta

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© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Repellin, M., Carton, F., Lollo, G., Malatesta, M. (2023). Alcian Blue Staining to Visualize Intracellular Hyaluronic Acid-Based Nanoparticles. In: Pellicciari, C., Biggiogera, M., Malatesta, M. (eds) Histochemistry of Single Molecules. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2566. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2675-7_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2675-7_25

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2674-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2675-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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