An immunocytochemical study of maternal immunoglobulin localization in the suckling pig intestine

In this study we used colloidal gold probes to detect the intracellular localization of colostral immunoglobulins in intestinal epithelial cells of newborn piglets.Tissues were obtained from non-suckled newborn and suckled piglets aged between 1 hour to 1 month. Samples were fixed in 2.5 % glutaraldehyde, osmicated and embedded into Spurr’s resin. Thin (80 nm) sections were etched with 5% sodium ethoxide for 5 min, washed and treated with 4 % sodium-m-periodate in distilled water for 30 min. The sections were then first incubated with blocking buffer (2 % BSA, 0.25 % fish skin gelatin, 0.5 % Tween 20 in 10 mM Trizma buffer, pH=7.4 containing 500 mM NaCl) for 30 min followed by the immunoreagents diluted in the same buffer, 1 hr each. For the detection of pig immunoglobulins a rabbit anti-pig IgG antiserum was used followed by goat anti-rabbit IgG-Au10 or protein A-Au15 probes.