Ex Vivo Calcium Imaging for Drosophila Model of Epilepsy

Summary

Here, we present a protocol for ex vivo calcium imaging in GCaMP6-expressing adult Drosophila to monitor epileptiform activities. The protocol provides a valuable tool for investigating ictal events in adult Drosophila through ex vivo calcium imaging, allowing for exploration of the potential mechanisms of epilepsy at the cellular levels.

Abstract

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, partially correlated with genetic origin, affecting over 70 million individuals worldwide. Despite the clinical importance of epilepsy, the functional analysis of neural activity in the central nervous system is still to be developed. Recent advancements in imaging technology, in combination with stable expression of genetically encoded calcium indicators, such as GCaMP6, have revolutionized the study of epilepsy at both brain-wide and single-cell resolution levels. Drosophila melanogaster has emerged as a tool for investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying epilepsy due to its sophisticated molecular genetics and behavioral assays. In this study, we present a novel and efficient protocol for ex vivo calcium imaging in GCaMP6-expressing adult Drosophila to monitor epileptiform activities. The whole brain is prepared from cac, a well-known epilepsy gene, knockdown flies for calcium imaging with a confocal microscope to identify the neural activity as a follow-up to the bang-sensitive seizure-like behavior assay. The cac knockdown flies showed a higher rate of seizure-like behavior and abnormal calcium activities, including more large spikes and fewer small spikes than wild-type flies. The calcium activities were correlated to seizure-like behavior. This methodology serves as an efficient methodology in screening the pathogenic genes for epilepsy and exploring the potential mechanism of epilepsy at the cellular level.

Introduction

Epilepsy, a complex chronic neurological disorder characterized by the recurrence of spontaneous and unprovoked seizures and aberrant neuronal network activity, has affected over 70 million individuals worldwide, making it one of the most common neurological diseases¹ and leading to the heavy burdens of families and society. In consideration of the impact of epilepsy, many studies have been conducted to identify the etiology of seizures, of which genetics has been approved as a primary cause of many types of epilepsies or epileptic syndromes². For the past decades, advances in genomic technologies have led to a rapid inc....

Protocol

1. Protocol for bang-sensitive assay

1. Establish the experimental flies by crossing the tub-Gal4 driver line with the UAS-cac-RNAi line via the Gal4/UAS system²¹. Collect the virgin flies of the tub-Gal4 line and the male flies of the UAS-cac-RNAi line. Then, transfer the virgin and male flies into the same vial to harvest the offspring.
   NOTE: The tub-Gal4 driver line will allow achieving global knockdown of the cac.......

Discussion

The calcium ion serves as a crucial second messenger, playing a pivotal role in a range of physiological and pathophysiological responses to both chemical and electrical perturbations. Furthermore, the topological element of the presynaptic P/Q channels, encoded by the human CACNA1A gene, has been identified as responsible for mediating the discharge of various neurotransmitters, including glutamate^30,31,32, and is clos.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Brushes	Panera	AAhc022-2	for handling flies
Calcium chloride (CaCl2)	Sigma-Aldrich	C4901
Confocal microscope	SP8; Zeiss, Jena, Germany.	N/A	for calcium imaging
CO2 anesthesia machine	N/A	N/A	for Anesthetizing the flies.
C-sharp holder	N/A	N/A	handmade, for mounting the brain
Culture vials	Biologix	51-0500	2.5 cm diameter, 9.5 cm height
Fiji software	National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA	version: 2.14.0	for analysis
Fly morgue	N/A	N/A	handmade, for handling flies
Fly stocks	cac-RNAi	27244	from Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center
Fly stocks	GCaMP6m	42750	from Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center
Fly stocks	tub-Gal4	N/A	from the Sion-Frech Hoffmann Institute, Guangzhou Medical University
Glucose	Sigma-Aldrich	G8270
High-resolution camera	N/A	N/A	for recording the seizure-like behavior assay
L-lysine	Sigma-Aldrich	L5626
Magnesium chloride solution (MgCl2)	Sigma-Aldrich	M1028
Papain suspension	Worthington Biochemical	LS003126
Petri dishes	Sigma-Aldrich	SLW1480/02D	for dissection
Pipette	Thermo Scientific	4640010, 4640030, 4640050, 4640060	for transporting a measured volume of liquid and diseccected brain
Potassium chloride (KCl)	Sigma-Aldrich	P4504
Recording dish	Thermo Scientific	150682- Glass Based Dish	for holding the brain and calcium imaging
Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)	Sigma-Aldrich	S5761
Sodium chloride (NaCl)	Sigma-Aldrich	S5886
Sodium hydroxide (NaOH)	Fisher Scientific	S25550
Sodium phosphate monobasic (NaH2PO4)	Sigma-Aldrich	S8282
Stereo-binocular microscope	SHANG GUANG	XTZ-D	for handling flies and dissection
Syringe needles	pythonbio	HCL0693	for dissection
Tripod	WEIFENG	45634732523	for recording the seizure-like behavior assay
Vortex mixer	Lab dancer, IKA, Germany/Sigma-Aldrich	Z653438	for performing the seizure-like behavior assay
Whiteboard	N/A	N/A	handmade, foam pad or paper for background