Microinjection of Medaka Embryos for use as a Model Genetic Organism

In this video, we demonstrate the technique of microinjection into one-cell stage medaka embryos. Medaka is a small egg-laying freshwater fish that allows both genetic and embryological analyses and is one of the vertebrate model organisms in which genome-wide phenotype-driven mutant screens were carried out ¹, as in zebrafish and the mouse. Divergence of functional overlap of related genes between medaka and zebrafish allows identification of novel phenotypes that are unidentifiable in a single species ², thus medaka and zebrafish are complementary for genetic dissection of vertebrate genome functions.To take advantage of medaka fish whose embryos are transparent and develop externally, microinjection is an essential technique to inject cell-tracers for labeling cells, mRNAs or anti-sense oligonucleotides for over-expressing and knocking-down genes of interest, and DNAs for making transgenic lines.Download video file.^{(40M, flv)}     

A Behavioral Assay to Measure Responsiveness of Zebrafish to Changes in Light Intensities

The optokinetic reflex (OKR) is a basic visual reflex exhibited by most vertebrates and plays an important role in stabilizing the eye relative to the visual scene. However, the OKR requires that an animal detect moving stripes and it is possible that fish that fail to exhibit an OKR may not be completely blind. One zebrafish mutant, the no optokinetic response c (nrc) has no OKR under any light conditions tested and was reported to be completely blind. Previously, we have shown that OFF-ganglion cell activity can be recorded in these mutants. To determine whether mutant fish with no OKR such as the nrc mutant can detect simple light increments and decrements we developed the visual motor behavioral assay (VMR). In this assay, single zebrafish larvae are placed in each well of a 96-well plate allowing the simultaneous monitoring of larvae using an automated video-tracking system. The locomotor responses of each larva to 30 minutes light ON and 30 minutes light OFF were recorded and quantified. WT fish have a brief spike of motor activity upon lights ON, known as the startle response, followed by return to lower-than baseline activity, called a freeze. WT fish also sharply increase their locomotor activity immediately following lights OFF and only gradually (over several minutes) return to baseline locomotor activity. The nrc mutants respond similarly to light OFF as WT fish, but exhibit a slight reduction in their average activity as compared to WT fish. Motor activity in response to light ON in nrc mutants is delayed and sluggish. There is a slow rise time of the nrc mutant response to light ON as compared to WT light ON response. The results indicate that nrc fish are not completely blind. Because teleosts can detect light through non-retinal tissues, we confirmed that the immediate behavioral responses to light-intensity changes require intact eyes by using the chokh (chk) mutants, which completely lack eyes from the earliest stages of development. In our VMR assay, the chk mutants exhibit no startle response to either light ON or OFF, showing that the lateral eyes mediate this behavior. The VMR assay described here complements the well-established OKR assay, which does not test the ability of zebrafish larvae to respond to changes in light intensities. Additionally, the automation of the VMR assay lends itself to high-throughput screening for defects in light-intensity driven visual responses.Download video file.^{(107M, mp4)}     

VisioTracker,an Innovative Automated Approach to Oculomotor Analysis

Investigations into the visual system development and function necessitate quantifiable behavioral models of visual performance that are easy to elicit, robust, and simple to manipulate. A suitable model has been found in the optokinetic response (OKR), a reflexive behavior present in all vertebrates due to its high selection value. The OKR involves slow stimulus-following movements of eyes alternated with rapid resetting saccades. The measurement of this behavior is easily carried out in zebrafish larvae, due to its early and stable onset (fully developed after 96 hours post fertilization (hpf)), and benefitting from the thorough knowledge about zebrafish genetics, for decades one of the favored model organisms in this field. Meanwhile the analysis of similar mechanisms in adult fish has gained importance, particularly for pharmacological and toxicological applications.Here we describe VisioTracker, a fully automated, high-throughput system for quantitative analysis of visual performance. The system is based on research carried out in the group of Prof. Stephan Neuhauss and was re-designed by TSE Systems. It consists of an immobilizing device for small fish monitored by a high-quality video camera equipped with a high-resolution zoom lens. The fish container is surrounded by a drum screen, upon which computer-generated stimulus patterns can be projected. Eye movements are recorded and automatically analyzed by the VisioTracker software package in real time.Data analysis enables immediate recognition of parameters such as slow and fast phase duration, movement cycle frequency, slow-phase gain, visual acuity, and contrast sensitivity.Typical results allow for example the rapid identification of visual system mutants that show no apparent alteration in wild type morphology, or the determination of quantitative effects of pharmacological or toxic and mutagenic agents on visual system performance. Download video file.^{(36M, mov)}     

Transplantation of whole kidney marrow in adult zebrafish

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are a rare population of pluripotent cells that maintain all the differentiated blood lineages throughout the life of an organism. The functional definition of a HSC is a transplanted cell that has the ability to reconstitute all the blood lineages of an irradiated recipient long term. This designation was established by decades of seminal work in mammalian systems. Using hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and reverse genetic manipulations in the mouse, the underlying regulatory factors of HSC biology are beginning to be unveiled, but are still largely under-explored. Recently, the zebrafish has emerged as a powerful genetic model to study vertebrate hematopoiesis. Establishing HCT in zebrafish will allow scientists to utilize the large-scale genetic and chemical screening methodologies available in zebrafish to reveal novel mechanisms underlying HSC regulation. In this article, we demonstrate a method to perform HCT in adult zebrafish. We show the dissection and preparation of zebrafish whole kidney marrow, the site of adult hematopoiesis in the zebrafish, and the introduction of these donor cells into the circulation of irradiated recipient fish via intracardiac injection. Additionally, we describe the post-transplant care of fish in an "ICU" to increase their long-term health. In general, gentle care of the fish before, during, and after the transplant is critical to increase the number of fish that will survive more than one month following the procedure, which is essential for assessment of long term (<3 month) engraftment. The experimental data used to establish this protocol will be published elsewhere. The establishment of this protocol will allow for the merger of large-scale zebrafish genetics and transplant biology.Download video file.^{(607M, mov)}     

Large Scale Zebrafish-Based In vivo Small Molecule Screen

Given their small embryo size, rapid development, transparency, fecundity, and numerous molecular, morphological and physiological similarities to mammals, zebrafish has emerged as a powerful in vivo platform for phenotype-based drug screens and chemical genetic analysis. Here, we demonstrate a simple, practical method for large-scale screening of small molecules using zebrafish embryos. Download video file.^{(43M, mov)}     

Live Imaging of Cell Extrusion from the Epidermis of Developing Zebrafish

Homeostatic maintenance of epithelial tissues requires the continual removal of damaged cells without disrupting barrier function. Our studies have found that dying cells send signals to their live neighbors to form and contract a ring of actin and myosin that ejects it out from the epithelial sheet while closing any gaps that might have resulted from its exit, a process termed cell extrusion¹. The optical clarity of developing zebrafish provides an excellent system to visualize extrusion in living epithelia. Here we describe a method to induce and image extrusion in the larval zebrafish epidermis. To visualize extrusion, we inject a red fluorescent protein labeled probe for F-actin into one-cell stage transgenic zebrafish embryos expressing green fluorescent protein in the epidermis and induce apoptosis by addition of G418 to larvae. We then use time-lapse imaging on a spinning disc confocal microscope to observe actin dynamics and epithelial cell behaviors during the process of apoptotic cell extrusion. This approach allows us to investigate the extrusion process in live epithelia and will provide an avenue to study disease states caused by the failure to eliminate apoptotic cells.Download video file.^{(59M, mov)}     

Dechorionation of Medaka Embryos and Cell Transplantation for the Generation of Chimeras

Medaka is a small egg-laying freshwater fish that allows both genetic and embryological analyses and is one of the three vertebrate model organisms in which genome-wide phenotype-driven mutant screens were carried out ¹. Divergence of functional overlap of related genes between medaka and zebrafish allows identification of novel phenotypes that are unidentifiable in a single species ², thus medaka and zebrafish are complementary for genetic dissection of the vertebrate genome functions. Manipulation of medaka embryos, such as dechorionation, mounting embryos for imaging and cell transplantation, are key procedures to work on both medaka and zebrafish in a laboratory. Cell transplantation examines cell autonomy of medaka mutations. Chimeras are generated by transplanting labeled cells from donor embryos into unlabeled recipient embryos. Donor cells can be transplanted to specific areas of the recipient embryos based on the fate maps ³ so that clones from transplanted cells can be integrated in the tissue of interest during development. Due to the hard chorion and soft embryos, manipulation of medaka embryos is more involved than in zebrafish. In this video, we show detailed procedures to manipulate medaka embryos.Download video file.^{(55M, mov)}     

Retro-orbital Injection in Adult Zebrafish

Drug treatment of whole animals is an essential tool in any model system for pharmacological and chemical genetic studies. Intravenous (IV) injection is often the most effective and noninvasive form of delivery of an agent of interest. In the zebrafish (Danio rerio), IV injection of drugs has long been a challenge because of the small vessel diameter. This has also proved a significant hurdle for the injection of cells during hematopoeitic stem cell transplantation. Historically, injections into the bloodstream were done directly through the heart. However, this intra-cardiac procedure has a very high mortality rate as the heart is often punctured during injection leaving the fish prone to infection, massive blood loss or fatal organ damage. Drawing on our experience with the mouse, we have developed a new injection procedure in the zebrafish in which the injection site is behind the eye and into the retro-orbital venous sinus. This retro-orbital (RO) injection technique has been successfully employed in both the injection of drugs in the adult fish as well as transplantation of whole kidney marrow cells. RO injection has a much lower mortality rate than traditional intra-cardiac injection. Fish that are injected retro-orbitally tend to bleed less following injection and are at a much lower risk of injury to a major organ like the heart. Further, when performed properly, injected cells and/or drugs quickly enter the bloodstream allowing compounds to exert their effect on the whole fish and kidney cells to easily home to their niche. Thus, this new injection technique minimizes mortality while allowing efficient delivery of material into the bloodstream of adult fish. Here we exemplify this technique by retro-orbital injection of Tg(globin:GFP) cells into adult casper fish as well as injection of a red fluorescent dye (dextran, Texas Red) into adult casper fish. We then visualize successful injections by whole animal fluorescence microscopy.Download video file.^{(55M, mp4)}     

Two-Photon-Based Photoactivation in Live Zebrafish Embryos

Photoactivation of target compounds in a living organism has proven a valuable approach to investigate various biological processes such as embryonic development, cellular signaling and adult physiology. In this respect, the use of multi-photon microscopy enables quantitative photoactivation of a given light responsive agent in deep tissues at a single cell resolution. As zebrafish embryos are optically transparent, their development can be monitored in vivo. These traits make the zebrafish a perfect model organism for controlling the activity of a variety of chemical agents and proteins by focused light. Here we describe the use of two-photon microscopy to induce the activation of chemically caged fluorescein, which in turn allows us to follow cell''s destiny in live zebrafish embryos. We use embryos expressing a live genetic landmark (GFP) to locate and precisely target any cells of interest. This procedure can be similarly used for precise light induced activation of proteins, hormones, small molecules and other caged compounds.Download video file.^{(57M, mov)}     

Heart Dissection in Larval,Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish,Danio rerio

Zebrafish have become a beneficial and practical model organism for the study of embryonic heart development (see recent reviews^1-6), however, work examining post-embryonic through adult cardiac development has been limited^7-10. Examining the changing morphology of the maturing and aging heart are restricted by the lack of techniques available for staging and isolating juvenile and adult hearts. In order to analyze heart development over the fish''s lifespan, we dissect zebrafish hearts at numerous stages and photograph them for further analysis¹¹. The morphological features of the heart can easily be quantified and individual hearts can be further analyzed by a host of standard methods. Zebrafish grow at variable rates and maturation correlates better with fish size than age, thus, post-fixation, we photograph and measure fish length as a gauge of fish maturation. This protocol explains two distinct, size dependent dissection techniques for zebrafish, ranging from larvae 3.5mm standard length (SL) with hearts of 100μm ventricle length (VL), to adults, with SL of 30mm and VL 1mm or larger. Larval and adult fish have quite distinct body and organ morphology. Larvae are not only significantly smaller, they have less pigment and each organ is visually very difficult to identify. For this reason, we use distinct dissection techniques.We used pre-dissection fixation procedures, as we discovered that hearts dissected directly after euthanization have a more variable morphology, with very loose and balloon like atria compared with hearts removed following fixation. The fish fixed prior to dissection, retain in vivo morphology and chamber position (data not shown). In addition, for demonstration purposes, we take advantage of the heart (myocardial) specific GFP transgenic Tg(myl7:GFP)^{twu34 (12)}, which allows us to visualize the entire heart and is particularly useful at early stages in development when the cardiac morphology is less distinct from surrounding tissues. Dissection of the heart makes further analysis of the cell and molecular biology underlying heart development and maturation using in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry, RNA extraction or other analytical methods easier in post-embryonic zebrafish. This protocol will provide a valuable technique for the study of cardiac development maturation and aging.Download video file.^{(42M, mov)}     

Insulin Injection and Hemolymph Extraction to Measure Insulin Sensitivity in Adult Drosophila melanogaster

Conserved nutrient sensing mechanisms exist between mammal and fruit fly where peptides resembling mammalian insulin and glucagon, respectively function to maintain glucose homeostasis during developmental larval stages ^1,2. Studies on largely post-mitotic adult flies have revealed perturbation of glucose homeostasis as the result of genetic ablation of insulin-like peptide (ILP) producing cells (IPCs) ³. Thus, adult fruit flies hold great promise as a suitable genetic model system for metabolic disorders including type II diabetes. To further develop the fruit fly system, comparable physiological assays used to measure glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in mammals must be established. To this end, we have recently described a novel procedure for measuring oral glucose tolerance response in the adult fly and demonstrated the importance of adult IPCs in maintaining glucose homeostasis ^4,5. Here, we have modified a previously described procedure for insulin injection ⁶ and combined it with a novel hemolymph extraction method to measure peripheral insulin sensitivity in the adult fly. Uniquely, our protocol allows direct physiological measurements of the adult fly''s ability to dispose of a peripheral glucose load upon insulin injection, a methodology that makes it feasible to characterize insulin signaling mutants and potential interventions affecting glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity in the adult fly.Download video file.^{(37M, mov)}     

Transplantation of GFP-expressing Blastomeres for Live Imaging of Retinal and Brain Development in Chimeric Zebrafish Embryos

Cells change extensively in their locations and property during embryogenesis. These changes are regulated by the interactions between the cells and their environment. Chimeric embryos, which are composed of cells of different genetic background, are great tools to study the cell-cell interactions mediated by genes of interest. The embryonic transparency of zebrafish at early developmental stages permits direct visualization of the morphogenesis of tissues and organs at the cellular level. Here, we demonstrate a protocol to generate chimeric retinas and brains in zebrafish embryos and to perform live imaging of the donor cells. The protocol covers the preparation of transplantation needles, the transplantation of GFP-expressing donor blastomeres to GFP-negative hosts, and the examination of donor cell behavior under live confocal microscopy. With slight modifications, this protocol can also be used to study the embryonic development of other tissues and organs in zebrafish. The advantages of using GFP to label donor cells are also discussed. Download video file.^{(95M, mp4)}     

The Preparation of Primary Hematopoietic Cell Cultures From Murine Bone Marrow for Electroporation

It is becoming increasingly apparent that electroporation is the most effective way to introduce plasmid DNA or siRNA into primary cells. The Gene Pulser MXcell electroporation system and Gene Pulser electroporation buffer were specifically developed to transfect nucleic acids into mammalian cells and difficult-to-transfect cells, such as primary and stem cells.This video demonstrates how to establish primary hematopoietic cell cultures from murine bone marrow, and then prepare them for electroporation in the MXcell system. We begin by isolating femur and tibia. Bone marrow from both femur and tibia are then harvested and cultures are established. Cultured bone marrow cells are then transfected and analyzed.Download video file.^{(51M, flv)}     

Live Imaging of the Zebrafish Embryonic Brain by Confocal Microscopy

In this video, we demonstrate the method our lab has developed to analyze the cell shape changes and rearrangements required to bend and fold the developing zebrafish brain (Gutzman et al, 2008). Such analysis affords a new understanding of the underlying cell biology required for development of the 3D structure of the vertebrate brain, and significantly increases our ability to study neural tube morphogenesis. The embryonic zebrafish brain is shaped beginning at 18 hours post fertilization (hpf) as the ventricles within the neuroepithelium inflate. By 24 hpf, the initial steps of neural tube morphogenesis are complete. Using the method described here, embryos at the one cell stage are injected with mRNA encoding membrane-targeted green fluorescent protein (memGFP). After injection and incubation, the embryo, now between 18 and 24 hpf, is mounted, inverted, in agarose and imaged by confocal microscopy. Notably, the zebrafish embryo is transparent making it an ideal system for fluorescent imaging. While our analyses have focused on the midbrain-hindbrain boundary and the hindbrain, this method could be extended for analysis of any region in the zebrafish to a depth of 80-100 μm.Open in a separate windowClick here to view.^{(44M, flv)}     

Visualization of Larval Segmental Nerves in 3rd Instar Drosophila Larval Preparations

Drosophila melanogaster is emerging as a powerful model system for studying the development and function of the nervous system, particularly because of its convenient genetics and fully sequenced genome. Additionally, the larval nervous system is an ideal model system to study mechanisms of axonal transport as the larval segmental nerves contain bundles of axons with their cell bodies located within the brain and their nerve terminals ending along the length of the body. Here we describe the procedure for visualization of synaptic vesicle proteins within larval segmental nerves. If done correctly, all components of the nervous system, along with associated tissues such as muscles and NMJs, remain intact, undamaged, and ready to be visualized. 3^rd instar larvae carrying various mutations are dissected, fixed, incubated with synaptic vesicle antibodies, visualized and compared to wild type larvae. This procedure can be adapted for several different synaptic or neuronal antibodies and changes in the distribution of a variety of proteins can be easily observed within larval segmental nerves.Download video file.^{(43M, mov)}     

Time-lapse Live Imaging of Clonally Related Neural Progenitor Cells in the Developing Zebrafish Forebrain

Precise patterns of division, migration and differentiation of neural progenitor cells are crucial for proper brain development and function^1,2. To understand the behavior of neural progenitor cells in the complex in vivo environment, time-lapse live imaging of neural progenitor cells in an intact brain is critically required. In this video, we exploit the unique features of zebrafish embryos to visualize the development of forebrain neural progenitor cells in vivo. We use electroporation to genetically and sparsely label individual neural progenitor cells. Briefly, DNA constructs coding for fluorescent markers were injected into the forebrain ventricle of 22 hours post fertilization (hpf) zebrafish embryos and electric pulses were delivered immediately. Six hours later, the electroporated zebrafish embryos were mounted with low melting point agarose in glass bottom culture dishes. Fluorescently labeled neural progenitor cells were then imaged for 36hours with fixed intervals under a confocal microscope using water dipping objective lens. The present method provides a way to gain insights into the in vivo development of forebrain neural progenitor cells and can be applied to other parts of the central nervous system of the zebrafish embryo.Download video file.^{(49M, mov)}     

From MEFs to Matrigel I: Passaging hESCs in the Presence of MEFs

This video demonstrates how to grow human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) on mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) feeder cells. Download video file.^{(126M, mov)}     

From MEFs to Matrigel 3: Passaging hESCs from Matrigel onto Matrigel

This video demonstrates how to maintain the growth of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) in feeder cell-free conditions and how to continuously passage hESCs in feeder cell-free conditions. Confirmation of hESC pluripotency grown in feeder cell-free conditions by immunofluorescence microscopy is also demonstrated.Open in a separate windowClick here to view.^{(24M, flv)}     

Imaging Glycans in Zebrafish Embryos by Metabolic Labeling and Bioorthogonal Click Chemistry

Imaging glycans in vivo has recently been enabled using a bioorthogonal chemical reporter strategy by treating cells or organisms with azide- or alkyne-tagged monosaccharides^{1, 2}. The modified monosaccharides, processed by the glycan biosynthetic machinery, are incorporated into cell surface glycoconjugates. The bioorthogonal azide or alkyne tags then allow covalent conjugation with fluorescent probes for visualization, or with affinity probes for enrichment and glycoproteomic analysis. This protocol describes the procedures typically used for noninvasive imaging of fucosylated glycans in zebrafish embryos, including: 1) microinjection of one-cell stage embryos with GDP-5-alkynylfucose (GDP-FucAl), 2) labeling fucosylated glycans in the enveloping layer of zebrafish embryos with azide-conjugated fluorophores via biocompatible Cu(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC), and 3) imaging by confocal microscopy³. The method described here can be readily extended to visualize other classes of glycans, e.g. glycans containing sialic acid⁴ and N-acetylgalactosamine^{5, 6}, in developing zebrafish and in other living organisms.Download video file.^{(41M, mov)}