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The zebrafish larval neuromuscular junction is an attractive model for studying synaptic physiology. It is amenable to many experimental techniques, including electrophysiology and optical imaging. Here, we describe a protocol for imaging synaptic transmission using a pHluorin-based probe under an upright epifluorescence microscope.
Neuronal communication is mediated by synaptic transmission, which depends primarily on the release of neurotransmitters stored in synaptic vesicles (SVs) in response to an action potential (AP). Since SVs are recycled locally at the presynaptic terminal, coordination of SV exocytosis and endocytosis is important for sustained synaptic transmission. A pH-sensitive green fluorescent protein, called pHluorin, provides a powerful tool to monitor SV exo/endocytosis by targeting it to the SV lumen. However, tracking AP-driven SV recycling with the pHluorin-based probes is still largely limited to in vitro culture preparations because the introduction of genetically encoded probes and subsequent optical imaging is technically challenging in general for in vivo animal models or tissue preparations. Zebrafish is a model system offering valuable features, including ease of genetic manipulation, optical clarity, and rapid external development. We recently generated a transgenic zebrafish that highly expresses a pHluorin-labeled probe at motor neuron terminals and developed a protocol to monitor AP-driven SV exo/endocytosis at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), a well-established synapse model that forms in vivo. In this article, we show how to prepare larval zebrafish NMJ preparation suitable for pHluorin imaging. We also show that the preparation allows time-lapse imaging under conventional upright epifluorescence microscope, providing a cost-effective platform for analyzing NMJ function.
Synaptic transmission, mediated by neurotransmitter release from synaptic vesicles (SVs) at the presynaptic terminal, is a fundamental process underlying nerve function1. In early studies, synaptic transmission was measured primarily by electrophysiological techniques that detect the postsynaptic response elicited by neurotransmitters and their receptors. Over the past few decades, however, several types of imaging techniques have been developed that directly visualize presynaptic function2. One of the most widely used probes is a pH-sensitive green fluorescent protein called pHluorin3,4.
Recycling of synaptic vesicles (SVs) at the presynaptic terminal is a crucial process for the sustained transmission of neurotransmitters5. Following the release of neurotransmitters by exocytosis of SVs, whose lumen is generally maintained at acidic pH6,7, the membrane and SV proteins are immediately retrieved from the plasma membrane by endocytosis. Newly formed SVs are then reacidified, and neurotransmitters are reloaded. When pHluorin is targeted into the SV lumen by fusing it to the SV protein, it exhibits minimal fluorescence at the resting state. However, upon SV exocytosis, it is exposed to the neutral pH in the extracellular space, resulting in bright fluorescence. Subsequently, fluorescence gradually decreases following the SV reacidification. Therefore, pHluorin fluorescence enables the monitoring of SV recycling processes.
In pioneering studies, synaptobrevin/VAMP 2, the vesicular SNARE (soluble NSF-attachment protein receptor) protein responsible for synaptic vesicle fusion in forebrain synapses8 and the most abundant among SV proteins9, was selected as a fusion partner for pHluorin, and the resulting fusion protein was designated as synaptopHluorin (SpH)3,4. However, SpH exhibited a low signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio due to the substantial surface expression of the probe. Therefore, other SV proteins have been tested as carrier partners10,11,12. To date, vesicular transporters have been demonstrated to exhibit the lowest surface expression13,14,15. The use of these probes was initially established in cultured mammalian neurons to track AP-driven SV recycling8,9,10,11,12,13 and has been extended to other preparations, including dissected tissues and in vivo animals16,17,18,19,20,21,22.
Larval zebrafish is a model system with valuable characteristics, including ease of genetic manipulation, optical clarity, and rapid external development. Transgenic zebrafish expressing pHluorin fused to synaptophysin, called SypHy, was generated and applied to multiple experimental setups, e.g., monitoring spontaneous SV fusion of spinal neurons in vivo21, AP-independent SV recycling at ribbon-type synapses in vivo20,22 or in isolated cells23,24,25. However, the application of pHluorin imaging of AP-driven SV recycling in the zebrafish model is still limited.
The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) serves as an attractive model to study synaptic physiology26, and several studies successfully performed imaging AP-driven SV recycling with SpH in mouse18,19. The use of NMJs for SV recycling in zebrafish was pioneered by Wen et al.16. Recently, we generated Tg zebrafish that highly express pHluorin tagged with a vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT) specifically in motor neurons27. This probe also contains a HaloTag in tandem with pHluorin at the luminal tail of VGAT and is, therefore, named VpHalo. Although VGAT is not endogenously expressed in cholinergic motor neurons, we confirmed that VpHalo localizes to all of the SV pools and is properly recycled in response to APs by combining electrophysiological recording, activity-dependent SV labeling with HaloTag ligands, and live imaging of pHluorin27. Due to the high level of expression and a minimal surface fraction of VpHalo, NMJ preparation from this Tg fish enabled the monitoring of AP-driven SV recycling with a good S/N ratio. Moreover, the sparse distribution of NMJs in the transparent body renders confocal laser scanning microscopy unnecessary for this purpose. Although monitoring AP-driven SV recycling in intact zebrafish is the desirable future direction, it is of primary importance to establish the NMJ preparation that is suitable to validate the use of the pHluorin-based probe under well-controlled conditions, as was done in cultured preparations3,4,10,11,12,13,14,15. Here, we describe a dissection protocol to prepare a larval zebrafish NMJ sample that can be used for multiple types of experiments, e.g., patch clamp recording of endplate currents, HaloTag labeling of recycled SVs, and pHluorin live imaging, as discussed above. Furthermore, we focused on and provided a detailed protocol for the live imaging of pHluorin using this NMJ preparation under a conventional epifluorescent microscope equipped with an electrical stimulation device and a solution perfusion system.
All animal procedures were conducted in accordance with the guidelines for the care and use of animals at Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University. Zebrafish were raised and maintained under a 14 h light to 10 h dark cycle. The embryos and larvae were maintained at 28-30 Β°C in egg water containing 0.006% sea salt and 0.01% methylene blue. The experiments were conducted at 4-7 days post-fertilization (dpf). It is recommended that the fish be fed twice a day from 5 dpf onwards when experiments are performed after 6 dpf. The medium must be changed prior to each feeding.
1. Preparation of solutions
2. Preparation of bipolar electrode from theta glass capillary
3. Sample preparation
NOTE: This protocol has been optimized for use with Tg(hb9:tTAad, TRE:TagRFP-P2A-VpHalo) zebrafish larvae27, in which the following two proteins, linked by a P2A cleavage peptide, were bicistronically expressed specifically in motor neurons: a reporter red fluorescent protein TagRFP and a sensor protein VpHalo, which is a fusion protein of pHluorin and HaloTag to the luminal part of VGAT (Figure 2A). The hb9 promoter drives the expression of the tTAad (tetracycline-controlled transactivator-advanced), which in turn induces the expression of the genes under the tetracycline response element (TRE) composite promoter. The Tet-inducible expression system increases the level of protein expression. pHluorin allows live monitoring of activity-dependent SV recycling, whereas HaloTag visualizes SVs recycled during a given period by covalently labeling the fused protein (Figure 2A). Although both methods have unique advantages, in this article we focus on pHluorin imaging.
4. Placement of the sample in the imaging chamber and insertion of the stimulating electrode
NOTE: Because the resting luminal pH of the SV is below pH 6.0, pHluorin fluorescence at NMJs in living fish is barely observable (Figure 2B). However, when the SV lumen was alkalized, restricted localization of VpHalo to NMJs was observed (Figure 2C). Notably, the confocal z-stack image of the NMJs showed that they did not overlap each other in the xy plane, except for the edges of the body segments (Figure 2C). Based on this observation, we postulated that the epifluorescence microscope was applicable for live imaging of VpHalo in zebrafish larvae, which was validated as detailed in the following protocol.
5. Image acquisition
6. Image analysis
NOTE: Use Fiji to perform the following image processing and analysis. Use Microsoft Excel or similar spreadsheet software to calculate the measurement results. Use Igor Pro to perform curve fitting on the obtained result.
If the dissected sample is prepared without severe tissue damage and the stimulation electrode is properly inserted into the spinal cord, a robust pHluorin response can be elicited by high-frequency electrical stimulation (Figure 4D,E). The pre-stimulus baseline fluorescence was likely due to the probe present on the surface of the presynapse. The increase in fluorescence during stimulation reflects the exocytotic release of the probe to the surface. The subsequent decay ref...
The larval zebrafish NMJ is an emerging model system for the study of synaptic physiology and pathology26,31. A transgenic zebrafish expressing SpH in a neuron-specific manner has already been generated and employed for the analysis of a mutant exhibiting a locomotor defect17. Wen et al.17 demonstrated an approximately 2-fold increase in pHluorin fluorescence during stimulation of 1000 APs at 100 Hz in WT control NM...
No conflict of interest is declared.
This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant 18K06882 to F. O.; and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant 21K06429 and 24K10020 to Y.E.
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
40x water immersion objective | Olympus | LUMPLFLN40XW | |
4ch gravity flow perfusion system | ALA | VCPlus-4G | |
5x objective | Olympus | NPLN5X | |
Custum made imaging chamber | Physiotech | custum made | A black acrylic plate (10.7 cm diameter, 3 mm thick) with a well (1 cm diameter at the bottom, 1.5 cm diameter at the top) holding approximately 0.5 ml of perfusate.Β |
Digital I/O device | Arduino | Uno Rev3 | |
D-Tubocurarine dichloride pentahydrate | Sigma | 93750 | |
Excel | Microsoft | Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2016 | |
Fiji / imageJ | https://imagej.net/ | imageJ 1.54f | |
Fine forceps | AsOne | 7-562-05 (Dumont #5) | |
Glass Pasteur pipette | IWAKI | IK-PAS-5P | The tip should be trimmed and fire-polished until the final diameter is 1.5β2 mm.Β |
Glass Petri dish | AsOne | 1-4564-06 | |
Igor Pro | WaveMetrics | Ver. 6.37 | |
Inline solution heater | Warner Instruments | SF-28 | |
LED illumination system | X-cyte | XYLIS | |
Methylen blue | Wako | 133-06962 | |
Micro-Manager | https://micro-manager.org/ | Ver. 2.0.0 | |
Mini magnetic clamp for perfusion tube | Warner Instruments | 64-1553 | |
Motorized micromanipulator | Scientifica | PatchStar | |
Motorized movable sample plate | Scientifica | MMSP | |
Pipette holder | Narishige | H-13 | |
Pipette puller | Narishige | PC-100 | |
Platinum wire (Ο0.1mm) | Nilaco | PT-351165 | |
Platinum wire (Ο0.5 mm) | Niaco | PT-351381 | |
Scalpel | AsOne | 8-3086-02 (Feather #11) | |
Scientific cMOS camera | Thorlabs | CC215MU | |
Sea salt | NAPQO | Instant Ocean | |
Stereo microscope | Olympus | SZX7 | |
Stimulus isolater | AMPI | ISO-FLEX | |
Suction tube | Warner Instruments | ST-3, 64-1406 | |
Temperature controller | Warner Instruments | TC-324C | |
Theta glass capillary | Sutter Instrument | BT-150-10 | |
Tricaine (MS-222) | TCI | T0941 | |
Upright microscope | Olympus | BX51WI |
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