Fig 2. Intracellular compartmentalization of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in MIO-M1 cells.

MIO-M1 cells cultured in regular media were subjected to IHC fluorescent confocal microscopy with 1μm-interval Z-stacking. Primary antibodies specific to MMP-9 (red) and TIMP-1 (green) followed by the appropriate fluorescent secondary antibodies, as indicated in the methods, were used to dual-IHC staining of the cells. Nuclear region is defined by chromatin staining with DAPI (blue). Orthogonal projection of one focal plane is presented. Cells with two different patterns in nuclear TIMP-1 distribution are indicated by yellow and blue insets and enlarged in the bottom two rows. Scale bars, 50 μm.