We'd like to look at gene expression profiles in olfactory/nasal epithelium but have no experience in isolating this tissue correctly. We'd like to investigate this both histologically (RNA in situ and or immunohistochemistry) and by quantitative RT-PCR. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!
Respiratory epithelium is actually quite complex in rodents; it contains several different cells types, which vary according to the level and depth of the nasal cavity. To study histologically, usually you fix the whole skull by formalin immersion, then lightly decalcify, then tranverse slices are taken rostral to caudal and embedded separately. You can then make sections of each slice and stain for histology, IHC, or even use for in situ (with the usual caveats that ISH on formalin-fixed tissue can be a bit more difficult than on frozen). If there are specific areas of the nasal epithelium that you want to target and isolate, then you would do LCM (laser-capture microdissection) to remove those areas from sections, then do your PCR analyses on the removed tissue.
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