We provide a comprehensive, practical, and simple step-by-step protocol for FRAP experiments with live cells. Herein, the protocol was used to measure the mobility of YFP-p62 in ALIS in RAW264.7 macrophages, but it can be applied to many of the laser scanning confocal microscope systems and genetically encoded fluorescent proteins that are now available. For any microscopy system, pilot experiments are critical for determining the optimal FRAP parameters, including acquisition, bleach, and control ROI sizes, laser intensity for photobleaching, and prebleach and postbleach image acquisition. It is reasonable to expect the optimal FRAP parameters to differ for each genetically encoded fluorescent protein and cell line.
Important factors to consider when conducting a FRAP experiment include (a) achieving suitable bleach depth, (b) the use of a brief bleaching step, (c) allowing sufficient time postbleach to observe the full recovery function, (d) photobleaching efficiency, (e) cytotoxicity with repeated FRAP, and (f) the inclusion of a control for fluorescence loss due to repeated imaging. We recommend that bleach depth, which can be calculated according to the equation provided in section 3.3.1, be ≥9013. When bleach depth is <90, the degree of postbleach fluorescence recovery will be underestimated, and the values of If, Mf, and t1/2 will be incorrect. Although the duration and intensity of the bleach-inducing laser pulses may vary between FRAP experiments, it is important that the photobleaching step be brief and substantially faster than the fluorescence recovery function. If it is not, then a significant amount of fluorescence recovery could occur during the bleaching step. With a long bleach time, fluorescence recovery during the bleaching step would not be measured, and it would lead to incorrect measurements of If, Mf, and t1/2. In addition, to obtain correct values for If, Mf, and t1/2, the acquisition ROI should be observed postbleach until the fluorescence level in the bleach ROI has reached a plateau. For example, in our FRAP experiments, there was no difference between the If, Mf, and t1/2 values when we observed YFP-p62 fluorescence in the bleach ROI for 32.2 min postbleach versus when we observed YFP-p62 in the bleach ROI for 15.1 min postbleach; thus, we concluded that the recovery function reached a plateau at 15.1 min postbleach12. With regard to photobleaching efficiency, photobleaching increases with the square of the optical zoom factor14. Thus, the use of high optical zoom lenses is favorable for rapid photobleaching but can result in undesirable photobleaching during acquisition; the latter can be accounted for by imaging a control ROI. Repeated photobleaching is to be avoided as it can lead to the generation of cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the degree of ROS generation due to exposure to a high-intensity laser is lower for genetically encoded fluorescent proteins than for chemical fluorophores (e.g., fluorescent antibodies)15, and the ROS generated are more likely to react within the genetically encoded fluorescent protein than with other molecules in the cell4. In addition to the increased probability of generating cytotoxic ROS, repeated photobleaching is to be avoided as it is difficult to control. Finally, although low laser transmission is used to acquire all non-bleach images, some photobleaching will invariably occur, which must be controlled. Possible controls for this include monitoring fluorescence in a control ROI within the acquisition ROI, obtaining control images in a neighboring unbleached cell, and performing control experiments with the identical settings for those used in the photobleaching experiments but without the photobleaching event.