University of Houston-Downtown

1 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

JoVE Journal

Local and Global Methods of Assessing Thermal Nociception in Drosophila Larvae

Abanti Chattopadhyay^*1, A'Tondra V. Gilstrap^*1,2, Michael J. Galko^1,3,4

¹Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, ²Scholars Academy/MARC Scholar, University of Houston-Downtown, ³Genes and Development Graduate Program, University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, ⁴Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

In this article, we demonstrate assays to study thermal nociception in Drosophila larvae. One assay involves spatially-restricted (local) stimulation of thermal nociceptors^1,2 while the second involves a wholesale (global) activation of most or all such neurons³. Together, these techniques allow visualization and quantification of the behavioral functions of Drosophila nociceptive sensory neurons.