Live Cell Imaging of Neural Stem Cells in the Drosophila Larval Brain

Abstract

Live cell imaging gives valuable insights into the dynamic biological processes within and between cells. An important aspect of live cell imaging is to keep the cells under best physiological condition and to prevent abnormal cellular behavior, which might be caused by phototoxicity during microscopy. In this chapter we describe a protocol to visualize division patterns of neural stem cells in live whole mount brains of Drosophila larvae. We also present a newly developed live cell chamber that allows us to control the environmental air during live cell imaging. The protocol can be adapted to look at a wide range of cellular and tissue behavior in the Drosophila model system.