The PtK2 epithelial cell line is a popular line for mitosis research that was initiated from the renal tissue of an adult male rat kangaroo (Potorous tridactylus). The cells are well suited for microscopic visualization of mitosis because they possess a relatively small number of large chromosomes and have a propensity to remain reasonably flat throughout the division process.
Male Rat Kangaroo Kidney Epithelial Cells
The adherent log phase culture of PtK2 rat kangaroo kidney cells illustrated above was treated for one hour with MitoTracker Red CMXRos in order to label the mitochondrial network. Then the fixed cells were incubated with mouse anti-cytokeratin primary antibodies followed by goat anti-mouse secondary antibodies (IgG) conjugated to Alexa Fluor 488. Cell nuclei were counterstained with DAPI. Images were recorded in grayscale with a Hamamatsu ORCA AG camera system coupled to a ZEISS Axio Imager microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks provided by Chroma and Semrock. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.