Name: manipulation and in vitro maturation of xenopus laevis oocytes, followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection, to study embryonic development
Uploaded: 2015-02-09T15:00:00
Duration: 9 min 22 s
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Manipulation and In Vitro Maturation of Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, to Study Embryonic Development at JoVE.com

We are grateful to Gurdon laboratory members for useful discussion. K.M. is a Research Fellow at Wolfson College and is supported by the Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. Gurdon laboratory is supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust (RG69899) and MRC to J.B.G.

<ol>
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The authors have nothing to disclose.

We here detail a new method to deplete maternal factors or to overexpress exogenous factors before fertilization. This system requires two microinjections, but instead skips the surgery of frogs, used in the host transfer method7,17. It is optimal to remove the frog surgery step in terms of animal care. Moreover, we do not have to take into account for the quality of host female frogs for the transfer experiments, meaning that we can get rid of one biological factor that affects the success of experiments. Therefore in this system the quality of oocytes obtained from PMSG-primed frogs is a major biological factor that is key for successful experiments. The quality of oocytes can be judged after collection of ovary or after defolliculation. If any abnormality is observed at these stages, it is optimal to collect another ovary from a new frog. Another point when you can check the oocyte quality is after oocyte maturation. If less than 80% of progesterone-treated oocytes show signs of maturation, you may not be able to obtain the enough number of embryos for further analyses. The use of enzymatic defolliculation instead of manual defolliculation is also another advantage of using this system to reduce the labor required for defolliculation. However, it is still possible that manual defolliculation may give a better development than the enzymatic treatment.
As shown in Figure 3, almost 10% of in vitro matured oocytes can reach the swimming tadpole stage. These data are collected from 13 independent experiments including those reported in 8 and new injection experiments. Host transfer method needs 75-150 oocytes in each treatment for obtaining meaningful data since 30-60% of the transferred oocytes can reach the neurula stage17. Our method normally starts with 200-300 oocytes in each experimental group since approximately 40-60% of cleaved embryos can reach the muscular response stage. These data suggest that both methods support a reasonable developmental rate. We have so far obtained 10 alive frogs from control mRNA-injected and control antisense oligo-injected oocytes using this technique, indicating that this approach supports development through metamorphosis.
Our oocyte manipulation-ICSI method provides an opportunity to test the role of maternal factors during very early embryonic development, soon after fertilization. In addition, overexpression of chromatin modifying factors before fertilization may make it possible to remodel maternal chromatin before fertilization for understanding maternal chromatin states necessary for development. This strategy may also work well with current gene editing systems such as Transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN)18,19 and CRISPR/CAS920,21 since these can be expressed even before fertilization. Therefore, our new approach has a potential to be used for many applications in future.

Xenopus laevis is a widely used, powerful model organism to study development1. This is because Xenopus eggs are unusually large (approximately 1.2-1.4 mm, in comparison to mammalian counterparts being about 0.1 mm) and abundant. Eggs contain maternally synthesized and stored components, which are enough to drive embryonic development until mid-blastula transition (MBT, occurring at the stage 8-8.5 with 4,000-8,000 cells). MBT is accompanied by zygotic genome activation, which then produces embryonic gene products that direct further development.
Numerous studies aimed to identify maternal factors important for development. Many studies rely on the injection of antisense oligonucleotides (oligos) including morpholino oligonucleotides into fertilized embryos, in which case degradation of maternal proteins can be observed at the gastrula stage2-4. Alternatively, mRNAs are injected to fertilized embryos to disturb gene functions or to trace fates of overexpressed proteins. However, the injection into the one-cell stage embryos normally does not affect expression levels of maternal proteins at the very early embryonic stages before MBT.
Heasman and Wylie established the host transfer method to overcome this issue5. In their method, manually defolliculated oocytes are injected with antisense oligos and transferred into host females6. Proteins are downregulated before fertilization so that roles of downregulated proteins in early embryonic development can be examined. This maternal depletion method led to the identification of several unique developmental roles of maternal proteins, as reviewed in 7.
In this report, we detail our recently developed method, in which maternal depletion or overexpression of mRNA before fertilization is achieved without manual defolliculation and host transfer8. Manual defolliculation requires a lot of time and host transfer often needs skillful techniques and the specific license for animal surgery, thus hampering the frequent use of maternal depletion method. Defolliculation and host transfer are substituted by enzymatic defolliculation 9,10 and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)11-13, respectively. ICSI to eggs was originally used to produce transgenic frogs 12. Sperm and embryonic nuclei were also transplanted into in vitro matured amphibian oocytes 11,14,15. Here, we show our step-by-step method to inject sperm to in vitro matured oocytes that were pre-injected with antisense oligos or mRNA.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="589">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Name of Reagent/ Equipment</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Company</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Catalog Number</td>
			<td style="width:167px;">Comments/Description</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG)&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">MSD Animal Health</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Vm 01708/4309</td>
			<td>PMSG-Intervet 5000iu powder and solvent for solution for injection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Ethyl 3-aminobenzoate methanesulfonate salt (MS222)</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">A5040</td>
			<td>For anesthesia</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="24">
			<td height="24" style="height:24px;width:216px;">Liberase TM Research Grade</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Roche</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">05 401 127 001</td>
			<td>For oocyte defolliculation. Store at -20oC</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="72">
			<td height="72" style="height:72px;width:216px;">Drummond Nanoject</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Drummond Scientific Company</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">3-000-205/206</td>
			<td>For microinjection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">glass capillary&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Alpha laboratories</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">7&#8221; Drummond #3-000-203-G/XL</td>
			<td>For microinjection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Micropipette Puller&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">SUTTER Instrument</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Model D-97</td>
			<td>For microinjection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">UltraPure Agarose</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Invitrogen</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">16500-500</td>
			<td>For invitro maturation and ICSI</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="84">
			<td height="84" style="height:84px;width:216px;">14 ml ultra-clear centrifuge tube&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Beckman Coulter United Kingdom Ltd</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">344060</td>
			<td>For sperm purification</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">OptiPrep Density Gradient Medium (Iodixanol)</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">D1556</td>
			<td>For sperm purification</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Digitonin</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Sigma</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">D141</td>
			<td>Cell permeabilization reagent</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Shaker</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Hybaid&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">HB-SHK-1</td>
			<td>For oocyte defolliculation.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Dissecting microscope (Stereo zoom microscope)</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">ZEISS</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Semi SV6</td>
			<td>For oocyte collection and microinjection</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">50 &#956;m pore filter</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">CellTrics</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">04-0042-2317</td>
			<td>For sperm purification</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;">Ultracentrifuge</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Beckman Coulter</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Optima L-100XP</td>
			<td>For sperm purification</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="63">
			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">50 ml centrifuge tube</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Cellstar Greiner Bio-One</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">227261 or 210261</td>
			<td>Oocyte collection and defolliculation reaction</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">15 ml centrifuge tube</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">FALCON</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">352097</td>
			<td>For sperm purification</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">90 mm Petri dish&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">Thermo Scientific</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">101VR20/C</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Easy-Grip Cell Culture Dish, 60x15 mm</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">FALCON</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">353004</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">Easy-Grip Cell Culture Dish, 35x15 mm</td>
			<td style="width:87px;">FALCON</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">351008</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

manipulation and in vitro maturation of xenopus laevis oocytes, followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection, to study embryonic development

Amphibian eggs have been widely used to study embryonic development. Early embryonic development is driven by maternally stored factors accumulated during oogenesis. In order to study roles of such maternal factors in early embryonic development, it is desirable to manipulate their functions from the very beginning of embryonic development. Conventional ways of gene interference are achieved by injection of antisense oligonucleotides (oligos) or mRNA into fertilized eggs, enabling under- or over-expression of specific proteins, respectively. However, these methods normally require more than several hours until protein expression is affected, and, hence, the interference of gene functions is not effective during early embryonic stages. Here, we introduce an experimental system in which expression levels of maternal proteins can be altered before fertilization. Xenopus laevis oocytes obtained from ovaries are defolliculated by incubating with enzymes. Antisense oligos or mRNAs are injected into defolliculated oocytes at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage. These oocytes are in vitro matured to eggs at the metaphase II (MII) stage, followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). By this way, up to 10% of ICSI embryos can reach the swimming tadpole stage, thus allowing functional tests of specific gene knockdown or overexpression. This approach can be a useful way to study roles of maternally stored factors in early embryonic development.

Embryonic development of ICSI embryos using in vitro matured oocytes was examined (Figure 3A). Maturation rates of GV oocytes to the MII stage are variable and largely depends on the oocyte quality. In good experiments, almost 100% of GV oocytes respond to progesterone and show signs of oocyte maturation, finally becoming eggs at the MII stage. All matured oocytes were subjected to ICSI and about 25% of injected eggs cleaved (Figure 3A, n = 13 for control scrambled oligo-injected oocytes and n = 7 for no oligo-injected oocytes). Approximately 60% or 80% of cleaved embryos, produced from control oligo-injected oocytes or non-injected oocyte, respectively, reached the blastula/gastrula stage. Among the blastula/gastrula embryos, approximately half of embryos in oligo-injected samples were of good quality (almost no signs of abnormal cleavage and apoptosis) whereas 82% of blastula/gastrula embryos were of good quality in non-injected samples (Figure 3A). Finally, 41% and 11% of cleaved embryos in oligo-injected samples reached the muscular response and the swimming tadpole stages, respectively, while 60% and 29% of cleaved embryos in non-injected samples did (Figure 3A). These ICSI embryos are the mixture of normal and abnormal embryos (Figure 3B). Some of them undergo metamorphosis and develop to mature frogs8. These results suggest that injection of antisense oligonucleotides into GV oocytes, followed by IVM and ICSI, allows efficient early embryonic development. Although the injection of antisense oligos itself decreases embryonic development, we are still able to obtain enough embryos for many experimental purposes such as checking developmental rates, RT-PCR, western blot and so on.
<img alt="Figure 1" src="/files/ftp_upload/52496/52496fig1highres.jpg" /> 
Figure 1: Typical examples of Xenopus laevis oocytes of good quality or bad quality for in vitro maturation experiments. (A) An example of bad quality oocytes. For example, oocytes showing patchy pigmentation are not used for subsequent experiments. Each Xenopus laevis oocyte is approximately 1.2-1.4 mm in diameter. (B) A partially defolliculated oocyte. The right half of the oocyte is covered by follicle cells, which can be discerned by the presence of blood vessels. An arrow shows an area free of follicle cells and into which the injection needle is injected. (C) An example of good quality oocytes, which are equally sized and show evenly pigmented animal hemispheres with clear contrast between the animal hemisphere and the vegetal hemisphere.
<img alt="Figure 2" src="/files/ftp_upload/52496/52496fig2highres.jpg" /> 
Figure 2: Xenopus laevis oocytes before and after maturation. After oocyte maturation, clear white spots appear at the top of animal hemispheres and follicle cells are peeled off. Each Xenopus laevis oocyte is approximately 1 mm in diameter.
<img alt="Figure 3" src="/files/ftp_upload/52496/52496fig3highres.jpg" /> 
Figure 3: Development of ICSI embryos, produced from in vitro matured oocytes. (A) Development of ICSI embryos to each stage is summarized. Oocytes were injected with control scrambled antisense oligonucleotides (control oligo injection) or without injection (non injection), followed by IVM and ICSI. The corresponding number of embryos at each stage is shown above the bars. Mean &#177; SEM is shown. N = 4-13 independent experiments/different females. (B) Examples of surviving ICSI embryos. These tailbud stage embryos were produced in one experiment, in which approximately 200 oocytes were used as a starting material.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Manipulation and In Vitro Maturation of Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, to Study Embryonic Development at JoVE.com

Manipulation and In Vitro Maturation of Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, to Study Embryonic Development

We describe methods of manipulating Xenopus laevis immature oocytes, in vitro maturation of oocytes to eggs, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This protocol allows degradation of some maternal proteins and overexpression of genes of interest at fertilization, and hence is valuable to study roles of specific factors in early embryonic development.

Manipulation and In Vitro Maturation of Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, to Study Embryonic Development

Amphibian eggs have been widely used to study embryonic development. Early embryonic development is driven by maternally stored factors accumulated during ...

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Developmental Biology

Expression of Fluorescent Proteins in Branchiostoma lanceolatum by mRNA Injection into Unfertilized Oocytes

We report here a robust and efficient protocol for the expression of fluorescent proteins after mRNA injection into unfertilized oocytes of the cephalochordate amphioxus, Branchiostoma lanceolatum. We use constructs for membrane and nuclear targeted mCherry and eGFP that have been modified to accommodate amphioxus codon usage and Kozak consensus sequences. We describe the type of injection needles to be used, the immobilization protocol for the unfertilized oocytes, and the overall injection set-up. This technique generates fluorescently labeled embryos, in which the dynamics of cell behaviors during early development can be analyzed using the latest in vivo imaging strategies. The development of a microinjection technique in this amphioxus species will allow live imaging analyses of cell behaviors in the embryo as well as gene-specific manipulations, including gene overexpression and knockdown. Altogether, this protocol will further consolidate the basal chordate amphioxus as an animal model for addressing questions related to the mechanisms of embryonic development and, more importantly, to their evolution.

Expression of Fluorescent Proteins in Branchiostoma lanceolatum by mRNA Injection into Unfertilized Oocytes

We report here the robust and efficient expression of fluorescent proteins after mRNA injection into unfertilized oocytes of Branchiostoma lanceolatum. The development of the microinjection technique in this basal chordate will pave the way for far-reaching technical innovations in this emerging model system, including in vivo imaging and gene-specific manipulations.

We report here a robust and efficient protocol for the expression of fluorescent proteins after mRNA injection into unfertilized oocytes of the ...

Culture of Embryonic Mouse Cochlear Explants and Gene Transfer by Electroporation

Auditory hair cells located within the mouse organ of Corti detect and transmit sound information to the central nervous system. The mechanosensory hair cells are aligned in one row of inner hair cells and three rows of outer hair cells that extend along the basal to apical axis of the cochlea. The explant culture technique described here provides an efficient method to isolate and maintain cochlear explants from the embryonic mouse inner ear. Also, the morphology and molecular characteristics of sensory hair cells and nonsensory supporting cells within the cochlear explant cultures resemble those observed in vivo and can be studied within its intrinsic cellular environment. The cochlear explants can serve as important experimental tools for the identification and characterization of molecular and genetic pathways that are involved in cellular specification and patterning. Although transgenic mouse models provide an effective approach for gene expression studies, a considerable number of mouse mutants die during embryonic development thereby hindering the analysis and interpretation of developmental phenotypes. The organ of Corti from mutant mice that die before birth can be cultured so that their in vitro development and responses to different factors can be analyzed. Additionally, we describe a technique for electroporating embryonic cochlear explants ex vivo which can be used to downregulate or overexpress specific gene(s) and analyze their potential endogenous function and test whether specific gene product is necessary or sufficient in a given context to influence mammalian cochlear development1-8.

We present a method that describes isolation and culture of cochlear explants from embryonic mouse inner ear. We also demonstrate a method for gene transfer into cochlear explants via square-wave electroporation. The in vitro explant culture coupled with gene transfer technique enables researchers to study the effects of altering gene expression during development.

Auditory hair cells located within the mouse organ of Corti detect and transmit sound information to the central nervous system. The mechanosensory hair ...

Using Confocal Analysis of Xenopus laevis to Investigate Modulators of Wnt and Shh Morphogen Gradients

This protocol describes a method to visualise ligands distributed across a field of cells. The ease of expressing exogenous proteins, together with the large size of their cells in early embryos, make Xenopus laevis a useful model for visualising GFP-tagged ligands. Synthetic mRNAs are efficiently translated after injection into early stage Xenopus embryos, and injections can be targeted to a single cell. When combined with a lineage tracer such as membrane tethered RFP, the injected cell (and its descendants) that are producing the overexpressed protein can easily be followed. This protocol describes a method for the production of fluorescently tagged Wnt and Shh ligands from injected mRNA. The methods involve the micro dissection of ectodermal explants (animal caps) and the analysis of ligand diffusion in multiple samples. By using confocal imaging, information about ligand secretion and diffusion over a field of cells can be obtained. Statistical analyses of confocal images provide quantitative data on the shape of ligand gradients. These methods may be useful to researchers who want to test the effects of factors that may regulate the shape of morphogen gradients.

Using Confocal Analysis of Xenopus laevis to Investigate Modulators of Wnt and Shh Morphogen Gradients

The manuscript here provides a simple set of methods for analysing the secretion and diffusion of fluorescently tagged ligands in Xenopus. This provides a context for testing the ability of other proteins to modify ligand distribution and allowing experiments that may give insight into mechanisms regulating morphogen gradients.

This protocol describes a method to visualise ligands distributed across a field of cells. The ease of expressing exogenous proteins, together with the ...

Stem cell-like Xenopus Embryonic Explants to Study Early Neural Developmental Features In Vitro and In Vivo

Understanding the genetic programs underlying neural development is an important goal of developmental and stem cell biology. In the amphibian blastula, cells from the roof of the blastocoel are pluripotent. These cells can be isolated, and programmed to generate various tissues through manipulation of genes expression or induction by morphogens. In this manuscript protocols are described for the use of Xenopus laevis blastocoel roof explants as an assay system to investigate key in vivo and in vitro features of early neural development. These protocols allow the investigation of fate acquisition, cell migration behaviors, and cell autonomous and non-autonomous properties. The blastocoel roof explants can be cultured in a serum-free defined medium and grafted into host embryos. This transplantation into an embryo allows the investigation of the long-term lineage commitment, the inductive properties, and the behavior of transplanted cells in vivo. These assays can be exploited to investigate molecular mechanisms, cellular processes and gene regulatory networks underlying neural development. In the context of regenerative medicine, these assays provide a means to generate neural-derived cell types in vitro that could be used in drug screening.

Stem cell-like Xenopus Embryonic Explants to Study Early Neural Developmental Features In Vitro and In Vivo

In Xenopus embryos, cells from the roof of the blastocoel are pluripotent and can be programmed to generate various tissues. Here, we describe protocols to use amphibian blastocoel roof explants as an assay system to investigate key in vivo and in vitro features of early neural development.

Understanding the genetic programs underlying neural development is an important goal of developmental and stem cell biology. In the amphibian blastula, ...

Technique to Target Microinjection to the Developing Xenopus Kidney

The embryonic kidney of Xenopus&#160;laevis (frog), the pronephros, consists of a single nephron, and can be used as a model for kidney disease. Xenopus embryos are large, develop externally, and can be easily manipulated by microinjection or surgical procedures. In addition, fate maps have been established for early Xenopus embryos. Targeted microinjection into the individual blastomere that will eventually give rise to an organ or tissue of interest can be used to selectively overexpress or knock down gene expression within this restricted region, decreasing secondary effects in the rest of the developing embryo. In this protocol, we describe how to utilize established Xenopus fate maps to target the developing Xenopus kidney (the pronephros), through microinjection into specific blastomere of 4- and 8-cell embryos. Injection of lineage tracers allows verification of the specific targeting of the injection. After embryos have developed to stage 38 - 40, whole-mount immunostaining is used to visualize pronephric development, and the contribution by targeted cells to the pronephros can be assessed. The same technique can be adapted to target other tissue types in addition to the pronephros.

Technique to Target Microinjection to the Developing Xenopus Kidney

Here, we present a protocol to use fate maps and lineage tracers to target injections into individual blastomeres that give rise to the kidney of Xenopus laevis embryos.

The embryonic kidney of Xenopus&#160;laevis (frog), the pronephros, consists of a single nephron, and can be used as a model for kidney disease. Xenopus ...

Functional Manipulation of Maternal Gene Products Using In Vitro Oocyte Maturation in Zebrafish

Cellular events that take place during the earliest stages of animal embryonic development are driven by maternally derived gene products deposited into the developing oocyte. Because these events rely on maternal products which typically act very soon after fertilization-that preexist inside the egg, standard approaches for expression and functional reduction involving the injection of reagents into the fertilized egg are typically ineffective. Instead, such manipulations must be performed during oogenesis, prior to or during the accumulation of maternal products. This article describes in detail a protocol for the in vitro maturation of immature zebrafish oocytes and their subsequent in vitro fertilization, yielding viable embryos that survive to adulthood. This method allows the functional manipulation of maternal products during oogenesis, such as the expression of products for phenotypic rescue and tagged construct visualization, as well as the reduction of gene function through reverse-genetics agents.

Functional Manipulation of Maternal Gene Products Using In Vitro Oocyte Maturation in Zebrafish

An optimized protocol for the in vitro maturation of zebrafish oocytes used for the manipulation of maternal gene products is presented here.

Cellular events that take place during the earliest stages of animal embryonic development are driven by maternally derived gene products deposited into ...

Visualization and Quantitative Analysis of Embryonic Angiogenesis in Xenopus tropicalis

Blood vessels supply oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, and the formation of the vascular network is under tight developmental control. The efficient in vivo visualization of blood vessels and the reliable quantification of their complexity are key to understanding the biology and disease of the vascular network. Here, we provide a detailed method to visualize blood vessels with a commercially available fluorescent dye, human plasma acetylated low density lipoprotein DiI complex (DiI-AcLDL), and to quantify their complexity in Xenopus tropicalis. Blood vessels can be labeled by a simple injection of DiI-AcLDL into the beating heart of an embryo, and blood vessels in the entire embryo can be imaged in live or fixed embryos. Combined with gene perturbation by the targeted microinjection of nucleic acids and/or the bath application of pharmacological reagents, the roles of a gene or of a signaling pathway on vascular development can be investigated within one week without resorting to sophisticated genetically engineered animals. Because of the well-defined venous system of Xenopus and its stereotypic angiogenesis, the sprouting of pre-existing vessels, vessel complexity can be quantified efficiently after perturbation experiments. This relatively simple protocol should serve as an easily accessible tool in diverse fields of cardiovascular research.

Visualization and Quantitative Analysis of Embryonic Angiogenesis in Xenopus tropicalis

This protocol demonstrates a fluorescence-based method to visualize the vasculature and to quantify its complexity in Xenopus tropicalis. Blood vessels can be imaged minutes after the injection of a fluorescent dye into the beating heart of an embryo after genetic and/or pharmacological manipulations to study cardiovascular development in vivo.

Blood vessels supply oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, and the formation of the vascular network is under tight developmental control. The ...

Light-mediated Reversible Modulation of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway during Cell Differentiation and Xenopus Embryonic Development

Kinase activity is crucial for a plethora of cellular functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis. During early embryonic development, kinase activity is highly dynamic and widespread across the embryo. Pharmacological and genetic approaches are commonly used to probe kinase activities. Unfortunately, it is challenging to achieve superior spatial and temporal resolution using these strategies. Furthermore, it is not feasible to control the kinase activity in a reversible fashion in live cells and multicellular organisms. Such a limitation remains a bottleneck for achieving a quantitative understanding of kinase activity during development and differentiation. This work presents an optogenetic strategy that takes advantage of a bicistronic system containing photoactivatable proteins Arabidopsis thaliana cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) and the N-terminal domain of cryptochrome-interacting basic-helix-loop-helix (CIBN). Reversible activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway is achieved through light-mediated protein translocation in live cells. This approach can be applied to mammalian cell cultures and live vertebrate embryos. This bicistronic system can be generalized to control the activity of other kinases with similar activation mechanisms and can be applied to other model systems.

Light-mediated Reversible Modulation of the Mitogen-activated Protein Kinase Pathway during Cell Differentiation and Xenopus Embryonic Development

This protocol describes an optogenetic strategy to modulate mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activity during cell differentiation and Xenopus embryonic development. This method allows for the reversible activation of the MAPK signaling pathway in mammalian cell culture and in multicellular live organisms, like Xenopus embryos, with high spatial and temporal resolution.

Kinase activity is crucial for a plethora of cellular functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, migration, and apoptosis. During early ...

Organotypic Culture Method to Study the Development Of Embryonic Chicken Tissues

The embryonic chicken is commonly used as a reliable model organism for vertebrate development. Its accessibility and short incubation period makes it ideal for experimentation. Currently, the study of these developmental pathways in the chicken embryo is conducted by applying inhibitors and drugs at localized sites and at low concentrations using a variety of methods. In vitro tissue&#160;culturing is a technique that enables the study of tissues separated from the host organism, while simultaneously bypassing many of the physical limitations present when working with whole embryos, such as the susceptibility of embryos to high doses of potentially lethal chemicals. Here, we present an organotypic culturing protocol for culturing the embryonic chicken half head in vitro, which presents new opportunities for the examination of developmental processes beyond the currently established methods.

Here, we present an organotypic culturing protocol to grow embryonic chicken organs in vitro. Using this method, the development of embryonic chicken tissue can be studied, while maintaining a high degree of control over the culture environment.

The embryonic chicken is commonly used as a reliable model organism for vertebrate development. Its accessibility and short incubation period makes it ...

Microinjection of DNA into Eyebuds in Xenopus laevis Embryos and Imaging of GFP Expressing Optic Axonal Arbors in Intact, Living Xenopus Tadpoles

The primary visual projection of tadpoles of the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis serves as an excellent model system for studying mechanisms that regulate the development of neuronal connectivity. During establishment of the retino-tectal projection, optic axons extend from the eye and navigate through distinct regions of the brain to reach their target tissue, the optic tectum. Once optic axons enter the tectum, they elaborate terminal arbors that function to increase the number of synaptic connections they can make with target interneurons in the tectum. Here, we describe a method to express DNA encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP), and gain- and loss-of-function gene constructs, in optic neurons (retinal ganglion cells) in Xenopus embryos. We explain how to microinject a combined DNA/lipofection reagent into eyebuds of one day old embryos such that exogenous genes are expressed in single or small numbers of optic neurons. By tagging genes with GFP or co-injecting with a GFP plasmid, terminal axonal arbors of individual optic neurons with altered molecular signaling can be imaged directly in brains of intact, living Xenopus tadpoles several days later, and their morphology can be quantified. This protocol allows for determination of cell-autonomous molecular mechanisms that underlie the development of optic axon arborization in vivo.

Microinjection of DNA into Eyebuds in Xenopus laevis Embryos and Imaging of GFP Expressing Optic Axonal Arbors in Intact, Living Xenopus Tadpoles

This protocol aims to demonstrate how to microinject a DNA/DOTAP mixture into eyebuds of one day old Xenopus laevis embryos, and how to image and reconstruct individual green fluorescent protein (GFP) expressing optic axonal arbors in tectal midbrains of intact, living Xenopus tadpoles.

The primary visual projection of tadpoles of the aquatic frog Xenopus laevis serves as an excellent model system for studying mechanisms that regulate the ...