Laser microdissection microscopy: application to cell culture.

Laser microdissection (LMD) microscopy allows isolation of specific cell populations to target their -molecular profile. There are several different types of LMD microscopes, but they are all based on the same principle. A laser beam is used to cut out cells or tissues of interest from a histological section, cytology preparations, or live cells from tissue cultures. Live cells can be isolated using LMD and processed for downstream molecular work. RNA, DNA, and protein isolation is possible from a small number of cells and the material is suitable for further real-time PCR, ELISA, Western Blotting, and protein microarray analysis.