Visualization of Actin Cytoskeleton in Cellular Protrusions in Medaka Embryos

Overview

Journal Bio Protoc

Specialty Biology

Date 2023 Jul 14

PMID 37449037

Authors

Toru Kawanishi

Ann Kathrin Heilig

Atsuko Shimada

Hiroyuki Takeda

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

ellular protrusions are fundamental structures for a wide variety of cellular behaviors, such as cell migration, cell-cell interaction, and signal reception. Visualization of cellular protrusions in living cells can be achieved by labeling of cytoskeletal actin with genetically encoded fluorescent probes. Here, we describe a detailed experimental procedure to visualize cellular protrusions in medaka embryos, which consists of the following steps: preparation of Actin-Chromobody-GFP and α-bungarotoxin mRNAs for actin labeling and immobilization of the embryo, respectively; microinjection of the mRNAs into embryos in a mosaic fashion to sparsely label individual cells; removal of the hard chorion, which hampers observation; and visualization of cellular protrusions in the embryo with a confocal microscope. Overall, our protocol provides a simple method to reveal cellular protrusions in vivo by confocal microscopy.

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