Lipid Droplet Staining of Larval Drosophila Oenocytes: A Technique for Assessment of Lipid Droplet Accumulation Under Normal and Stressed Condition Using BODIPY-Based Dye

Abstract

Source: Wei, C., et al., Dissection and Lipid Droplet Staining of Oenocytes in Drosophila Larvae. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).

This video demonstrates lipid droplet staining in Drosophila larval oenocytes - hepatocyte-like cells - using the lipophilic fluorescent BODIPY based dye. These cells act as a model for studying lipid metabolism during development and in response to environmental stress such as starvation.

Protocol

1. Starvation Treatment for the Larvae

NOTE: In the third instar larvae, there are few or no detectable lipid droplets in the oenocytes under normal feeding conditions, but numerous large lipid droplets can be induced in the oenocytes under stress conditions, such as starvation. To further verify this method, it is necessary to pretreat these larvae to induce lipid droplet biogenesis in oenocytes. Here, a starvation time course of 12 h, 24 h, and 36 h was chosen as the paradigm. In particular, a short period of starvation (e.g., 3 h) is sufficient to induce detectable lipid droplets in oenocytes. Starvat....

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
50 mL centrifuge tube	Corning	430829	50 mL
6 cm Petri dish	Thermo Fisher	150326	6 cm
Agar			For fly food
Aluminum foil	N/A	N/A	Protect smaple from light
BODIPY 493/503	Invitrogen	D3922	Lipid droplet staining dye
Confocal microscope	Leica	Leica TSC SP5	Confocal imaging
Corn syrup			For fly food
Cornmeal			For fly food
Coverslip	Citoglas	10212424C	20 × 20 mm, 0.13-0.17 thick
Dissection pin	N/A	N/A
Dissection plate	N/A	N/A
Filter paper	N/A	N/A	Diameter: 11 cm
Fixation buffer	N/A	N/A	4% Paraformaldehyde (PFA) in 1x PBS
Forcep	Dumont	11252-30	#5
Incubator	Jiangnan	SPX-380	For fly culture
Microcentrifuge tube	Axygen	MCT-150-C	1.5 mL
Microscopy slide	Citoglas	10127105P-G
Mounting medium	VECTASHIELDAntifade Mounting Medium	H-1000	Antifade mounting medium
Nail polish	PanEra	AAPR419	Seal the coverslip
Paintbrush	N/A	N/A
PBS	N/A	N/A	1x PBS (137 mM NaCl, 2.7 mM KCl, 10 mM Na_{2} HPO_{4} ,1.8 mM KH_{2} PO_{4} , pH 7.4)
Rotator	Kylin-Bell Lab Instruments	WH-986
Scissor	Smartdata Medical	SR81	Vannas spring scissor
Soy flour			For fly food
Spatula	N/A	N/A
Standard cornmeal food	N/A	N/A	Accoding to Bloomington standard cornmeal food recipe
Stereo microscope	Leica	Leica S6E	For tissue dissection
Wipe paper	N/A	N/A
Yeast			For fly food