University of New South Wales (UNSW) Medicine 2 articles published in JoVE Medicine Palatable Western-style Cafeteria Diet as a Reliable Method for Modeling Diet-induced Obesity in Rodents Sarah-Jane Leigh*1, Michael D. Kendig*1, Margaret J. Morris1 1Department of Pharmacology, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Sydney This protocol describes the use of a highly palatable, western-style cafeteria diet to model overeating and obesity in rodents. Here, we provide a detailed outline of food selection, preparation and measurement, and explain methodological factors that assist in generating a robust and reproducible phenotype. Developmental Biology Real-time Live-cell Flow Cytometry to Investigate Calcium Influx, Pore Formation, and Phagocytosis by P2X7 Receptors in Adult Neural Progenitor Cells Hannah C. Leeson1,2, Tailoi Chan-Ling3,4, Michael D. Lovelace3,5,6, Jeremy D. Brownlie7, Michael W. Weible II*1,4,7, Ben J. Gu*8 1Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Griffith University, 2Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland, 3Discipline of Anatomy and Histology, School of Medical Science, University of Sydney, 4Bosch Institute, University of Sydney, 5 Providing single-cell sensitivity, real-time flow cytometry is uniquely suited to quantify multimodal receptor functions of live cultures. Using adult neural progenitor cells, the P2X7 receptor function was assessed via calcium influx detected by calcium indicator dye, transmembrane pore formation by ethidium bromide uptake, and phagocytosis using fluorescent latex beads.