Phagocytosis Assay for Apoptotic Cells in Drosophila Embryos

We herein describe a phagocytosis assay using the dispersed embryonic cells of Drosophila. It enables us to easily and precisely quantify in vivo phagocytosis levels, and to identify new molecules required for the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells.

The overall goal of this procedure is to measure in vivo phagocytosis in Drosophila to assess the involvement of specific genes of interest in apoptotic cell engulfment. This method can help answer key questions in the immunology and developmental biology fields about the mechanisms involved in apoptotic cell engulfment. The main advantage of this technique is that the cells can be used easily and precisely measured in vivo phagocytosis levels.

The implication of this technique extend toward therapy of inflammatory disorders and autoimmune disease as apoptotic cell by phagocytosis is necessary for removing dangerous cells that cause inflammation. Begin by adding 200 adult female and 200 adult male fruit flies and a plate of fresh grape juice agar on yeast into a 50 milliliter conical tube. Close the tube with a sponge cap and incubate the flies in the light at 16 degrees Celsius for two to three days.

At the end of the incubation, move the flies to 25 degrees Celsius in the dark for one hour and replace the old plate with a new plate without yeast. Allow the flies to lay eggs for two hours. Then incubate the plate at 16 degrees Celsius for 26 hours.

The next day, use a paint brush to transfer the embryos into one milliliter of PBS supplemented with 0.2%Triton X-100. After two washes, add 1.2 milliliters of sodium hypochlorite solution to the embryos to remove the chorion. After three minutes, wash the embryos four times in fresh PBS plus Triton X-100.

Transfer the washed embryos onto a six centimeter agarose plate and place the plate under a dissecting microscope. Identify stage 16 embryos using a micro tip. Use a micro pipette to transfer approximately 50 of the stage 16 embryos into a 1.5 milliliter micro test tube.

To isolate the embryonic cells, first wash the embryos two times with 150 microliters of PBS. Transfer the embryos into a new 1.5 milliliter micro test tube. Then add 200 microliters of collagenase and homogenize the embryos 30 times with a pellet mixer.

At the end of the homogenization, triturate the embryonic cells 10 times and transfer the cell suspension into a new 1.5 milliliter tube. Incubate the cells at 37 degrees Celsius for one minute. Then triturate the cells 10 more times and return them to the 37 degrees Celsius incubator for another minute.

At the end of the second incubation, add 800 microliters of PBS to the cells and collect the cells by centrifugation. Resuspend the pellet in 200 microliters of Trypsin before filtering the cell suspension through a 70 micron cell strainer. Stop the enzymatic activity with 40 microliters of heat inactivated fetal bovine serum in 800 microliters of PBS and collect the cells by centrifugation.

Resuspend the precipitated cells in 200 microliters of fresh PBS and collect the cells with another centrifugation. Resuspend the pellet in 30 microliters of PBS and mount the cells onto an aminopropyltriethoxysilane-coated glass slide. When the cells have attached, use a pipette to remove the excess PBS from the slide and fix the cells with 60 to 70 microliters of 4%paraformaldehyde.

After 10 to 15 minutes, remove the fixative and wash the cells in PBS for one minute. To immunostain the cells with anti-Croquemort antibody, first serially soak the slide in methanol then PBS supplemented with 0.2%Triton X-100 followed by PBS alone. Next, block the nonspecific binding with 20 microliters of 5%whole swine serum in PBS plus 0.2%Triton X-100 for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Remove the excess blocking solution and label the cells with 20 microliters of anti-Croquemort antiserum at four degrees Celsius overnight. The next morning, wash the slide in PBS plus Triton X-100 for five 10-minute incubations. After the last wash, rinse the slide in PBS for 10 minutes.

Then label the cells with 20 microliters of alkaline phosphatase-labeled Anti-Rat IgG at room temperature for one hour. At the end of the incubation, wash the slide five times in PBS plus Triton X-100 as demonstrated followed by a 10-minute soak in buffer solution. Then label the cells with phosphatase substrate solution and observe the cells under a light microscope.

When strong purple signals appear in the hemocyte granules, remove the excess substrate and soak the slide in buffer supplemented with EDTA for five to 10 minutes. At the end of the incubation, rinse the cells with two five-minute PBS washes and treat them with equilibration buffer for 10 minutes. After removing the solution, label the cells with 20 microliters of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase solution at 37 degrees Celsius for one hour.

Then remove the solution from the slide and soak the cells in 0.5 milliliters stop wash buffer in 17 milliliters of water for 10 minutes. Next, rinse the cells with three five-minute PBS washes and label them with 20 microliters of anti-digoxigenin peroxidase for 30 minutes at room temperature. At the end of the incubation, wash the cells four times in PBS as demonstrated and soak the slide in peroxidase substrate for 30-second increments until the apoptotic cells turn brown.

When an optimal staining has been achieved, soak the slide in water to stop the peroxidase reaction. In these images, Drosophila macrophages called hemocytes were stained for the hemocyte marker Croquemort and for the presence of phagocytosed apoptotic cells by TUNEL in dispersed embryonic cells as just demonstrated. Croquemort positive cells exhibit purple signals in the small granules of their cells while TUNEL positive cells demonstrated brown signal in their whole corpuses.

Alternatively, hemocytes can be stained with an anti-GFP antibody which stains the entire hemocyte instead of just the granules. In this experiment, the ratio of phagocytosing hemocytes to total hemocytes in wild type or single mutant embryos was analyzed, demonstrating that the phagocytic index was lower in both single mutant strains than in wild type flies while the total numbers of hemocytes and apoptotic cells were similar indicating the requirement of the mutated genes for apoptotic cell engulfment. RNAi knockdown of single genes also reduces the phagocytic index while the total numbers of hemocytes and apoptotic cells remained comparable, further underscoring the involvement of the investigated phagocytosis receptors in apoptotic cell mediated phagocytosis.

Once mastered, this technique can be completed in about 15 hours if it is performed properly. While attempting this procedure, it's important to remember to avoid excess hemocyte marker and TUNEL staining for optimal evaluation of the phagocytotic ability of the cells. Following this procedure, in situ phagocytosis assay of all Drosophila embryos can be performed to answer additional questions about the site of engulfment or the distribution of the hemocytes.

After its development, this technique paved the way for researchers in the immunology field to explore the mechanisms of apoptotic cell engulfment in Drosophila. After watching this video, you should have a good understanding of how to measure in vivo phagocytosis in Drosophila embryos.