We describe here the use of a pH-sensitive green fluorescent protein variant, pHluorin, to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of axon guidance receptors trafficking at the cell surface. The pHluorin-tagged receptor is expressed both in cell culture and in vivo, using electroporation of the chick embryo.
The floor plate is a crucial structure of the developing spinal cord, providing diffusible signals to progenitors and differentiating neurons. We describe a method to produce floor-plate conditioned medium, to apply it to fresh spinal cord tissue, and to assess the consequences on proteins of interest by biochemistry.