Visualization of centrioles and basal bodies by fluorescent staining with nonimmune rabbit sera.

Several sera from nonimmunized rabbits have been found which stain centrioles and basal bodies by indirect immunofluorescence in a wide variety of cell types. So far, approximately 10% of the rabbit sera that we have examined gave strong positive staining of centrioles and basal bodies. Cytoplasmic networks, mitotic spindles, and ciliary axonemes, however, remain unstained. This specific fluorescent staining of centrioles and basal bodies could not be abolished by absorption of sera with purified brain tubulin. This technique is superior to previous methods for the visualization of basal bodies and centrioles at the light microscopic level and should be useful for rapid and convenient detection of these organelles in large populations of cells.