Visualizing the Beating Heart in Drosophila

Two techniques will be presented here for the visualization of a beating heart in Drosophila for the dissection of the adult heart. First, the head and thorax are removed by a single cut along the indicated line. Next, the genitalia are removed and the abdominal body cavity is opened using forceps the gut, and in the case of a female fly, the ovaries are removed.

The abdominal fat body in abdominal segments three and four is carefully sucked away to expose the adult heart for the immobilization of the larval heart. A single larva placed in buffer solution is fixed by applying histo acral glue first around the larva head region. The larvae is gently stretched and more glue is applied to the posterior end, and then on the flanks of the larva body wall.