Immunofluorescent Staining of Whole-Mount Mouse Embryos

Mouse embryos and fetal organs have no pigmentation except for the retinal pigmented epithelium of the eye at subsequent stages of development. This makes it difficult to visualize and photodocument embryonic structures using conventional light microscopy. This protocol is used to localize specific proteins in whole embryos or fetal organs using immunofluorescence. Various imaging modalities can then be used to visualize these expression patterns, for example, confocal microscopy or optical projection tomography.