Drosophila In Vivo Calcium Imaging: A Method for Functional Imaging of Neuronal Activity

Abstract

Source: Hancock, C. E., et al. In Vivo Optical Calcium Imaging of Learning-Induced Synaptic Plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).

This video describes in vivo calcium imaging in Drosophila neurons using GCaMP. The featured protocol clip shows how to record changes in GCaMP fluorescence from mushroom body neurons during an olfactory conditioning experiment.

Protocol

This protocol is an excerpt from Hancock et al., In Vivo Optical Calcium Imaging of Learning-Induced Synaptic Plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster, J. Vis. Exp. (2019).

1. In vivo calcium imaging

1. Use a multiphoton microscope equipped with an infrared laser and a water immersion objective (see Table of Materials), installed on a vibration-isolated table. For the visualization of GFP-based calcium indicators, tune the laser to an excitation wavelength of 920 nm and install a GFP band-pass filter.
2. Using the coarse Z adjustment knob, scan through th....

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1-Octen-3-ol	Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA	O5284	Chemical used as odorant
3-Octanol	Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA	218405	Chemical used as odorant
4-Methylcyclohexanol	Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA	153095	Chemical used as odorant
Bandpass filter for EGFP (525/50 nm)	Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Jena, Germany
Mineral oil	Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA	M8410	Used as diluent for odorants
Mode-locked Ti-Sapphire laser Chameleon Vision 2	Coherent Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA		Tunable infrared femtosecond laser
Multiphoton Microscope LSM 7MP equipped with BiG detectors	Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Jena, Germany		Multiphoton microscope, multiple companies provide similar devices.
Plan-Apochromat 20x (NA = 1.0) water immersion objective	Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, Jena, Germany	421452-9900-000	Objective W "Plan-Apochromat" 20x/1.0 DIC M27 70mm
Visual Basics of Applicatons (VBA) software to receive a trigger from the odor-delivery device and the electric shock application device (power supply) to interact with the ZEN software from Zeiss that controls the microscope	Custom-written and available upon request	n.a.	n.a.