University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

A fast and inexpensive method for the behavioral determination of hearing parameters like hearing thresholds, hearing impairments or phantom perceptions (subjective tinnitus) is described. It uses pre-pulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response and can be easily implemented in a personal computer using a programmable AD/DA-converter and a piezo sensor.

Controlling protein expression is not only essential to every organism alive, but also an important strategy to investigate protein functions in cellular models. The protocol presented shows the application of antibody interference in mammalian cells including primary hippocampal neurons and demonstrates the use of three-dimensional reconstructions in studying protein function.

Two different methods for characterizing the incipient particle motion of a single bead as a function of the sediment bed geometry from laminar to turbulent flow are presented.

Dynamic adhesion of immune cells to the vessel wall is a prerequisite for gut homing. Here, we present a protocol for a functional in vitro assay for the impact analysis of anti-integrin antibodies, chemokines or other factors on the dynamic cell adhesion of human cells using addressin-coated capillaries.

The here introduced protocol allows characterization of the lung homing capacity of primary human lymphocytes under in vivo inflammatory conditions. Pulmonary infiltration of adoptively transferred human immune cells in a mouse model of allergic inflammation can be imaged and quantified by light-sheet fluorescence microscopy of chemically cleared lung tissue.

Taking advantage of intravital microscopy, the method presented here enables real-time visualization of intestinal epithelial cell shedding in living animals. Therefore, topically stained intestinal mucosa (acriflavine and rhodamineB-dextran) of anesthetized mice is imaged up to single-cell resolution using confocal microscopy.