Identifying proteins specifically associated with Bruch’s membrane in human eyes is an important step in understanding the biochemical mechanisms behind eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. This protocol describes how to enrich this sheet of extracellular matrix for down-stream biochemical analysis.
Our overall aim is to understand how cells sense extracellular cues that lead to directed axonal growth. Here, we describe the methodology of Light-Induced Molecular Adsorption of Proteins, used to produce defined micro-patterns of extracellular matrix components in order to study specific events that govern axon outgrowth and pathfinding.