Ultraviolet fluorescence light micrograph of cytoskeletons showing the distribution of an intermediate filament protein called vimentin. The cells are from the kidney epithelium of the kangaroo-rat. The cytoskeleton falls into two components; microtubules, which are rigid protein tubes that act as direction markers in a cell and two filamentous components called microfilaments & intermediate filaments. Intermediate filaments, are flexible, forming three dimensional networks. They are thought to be directly involved in the movement of organelles, vesicles & membranes. The oval depressions seen here are the sites of the nuclei. Magnification x100 at 35mm size. Microcosmos P 118 fig.6.17