Multi-Photon Time Lapse Imaging to Visualize Development in Real-time: Visualization of Migrating Neural Crest Cells in Zebrafish Embryos

J Vis Exp. 2017 Aug 9:(126):56214. doi: 10.3791/56214.

Abstract

Congenital eye and craniofacial anomalies reflect disruptions in the neural crest, a transient population of migratory stem cells that give rise to numerous cell types throughout the body. Understanding the biology of the neural crest has been limited, reflecting a lack of genetically tractable models that can be studied in vivo and in real-time. Zebrafish is a particularly important developmental model for studying migratory cell populations, such as the neural crest. To examine neural crest migration into the developing eye, a combination of the advanced optical techniques of laser scanning microscopy with long wavelength multi-photon fluorescence excitation was implemented to capture high-resolution, three-dimensional, real-time videos of the developing eye in transgenic zebrafish embryos, namely Tg(sox10:EGFP) and Tg(foxd3:GFP), as sox10 and foxd3 have been shown in numerous animal models to regulate early neural crest differentiation and likely represent markers for neural crest cells. Multi-photon time-lapse imaging was used to discern the behavior and migratory patterns of two neural crest cell populations contributing to early eye development. This protocol provides information for generating time-lapse videos during zebrafish neural crest migration, as an example, and can be further applied to visualize the early development of many structures in the zebrafish and other model organisms.

Publication types

  • Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation / physiology
  • Neural Crest / diagnostic imaging
  • Neural Crest / metabolism*
  • Time-Lapse Imaging / methods*
  • Zebrafish / metabolism*
  • Zebrafish Proteins / metabolism*

Substances

  • Zebrafish Proteins