<em>Ex vivo</em> Method for High Resolution Imaging of Cilia Motility in Rodent Airway Epithelia

Richard Francis; Cecilia Lo

doi:10.3791/50343

Ex vivo Method for High Resolution Imaging of Cilia Motility in Rodent Airway Epithelia

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Biology

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Ex vivo Method for High Resolution Imaging of Cilia Motility in Rodent Airway Epithelia

Ex vivo Method for High Resolution Imaging of Cilia Motility in Rodent Airway Epithelia

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08:25 min

August 8, 2013

DOI: 10.3791/50343-v

Richard Francis¹, Cecilia Lo¹

¹Department of Developmental Biology,University of Pittsburgh

An easy and reliable technique for visualizing and quantifying airway cilia motility and cilia generated flow using mouse trachea is described. This technique can be modified to determine how a wide range of factors influence cilia motility, including pharmacological agents, genetic factors, environmental exposures, and/or mechanical factors such as mucus load.

The overall goal of this procedure is to visualize and quantify respiratory CLIA motility and CLIA generated flow using freshly isolated mouse trachea. This is accomplished by first preparing a shallow imaging chamber. The next steps of the procedure are to harvest and mount the tracheal tissue for imaging.

It is then shown how to visualize and record C motility and CLIA generated flow using an inverted microscope with high speed videography through a 100 XDIC objective. The final step is to analyze the video by quantifying CLIA beat frequency and CLIA generated flow using Image J software. Ultimately, the results can show changes in respiratory CLIA motility and CLIA generated flow through high speed video microscopy.

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