Figure 5

Spatial relationship between transduction sites and the location of tissue-associated microbeads in the inflamed colon upon intracolonical administration of AAV2-microbead conjugates bearing Con A. Colon sections, prepared from mice that received AAV2-microbead conjugates with and without the co-attachment of Con A, were stained for β-galactosidase activity using X-gal as the substrate. Stained sections (without counter-staining) were examined under a fluorescence microscope to detect microbead-derived red fluorescence (right images). Then, colon sections were counter-stained with eosin/phloxine B and subjected to light microscopic analysis for transduction sites (left images), in which images at the same location as fluorescence detection of tissue-associated microbeads above were captured. Colon sections, derived from mice that received AAV2-microbead conjugates without Con A, showed no appreciable transduction or tissue-associated microbeads (data not shown). The two pairs of images shown are derived from colon sections of mice that received AAV2-microbead conjugates bearing Con A. MM, muscularis mucosa; Muc, mucosal layer; SubM, sub-mucosal layer. Representative images are shown.