title: Imaging early macrophage differentiation, migration, and behaviors in live zebrafish embryos.
abstract: Because zebrafish embryos are transparent, cell behaviors and interactions can be directly imaged noninvasively in live embryos using differential interference contrast-Nomarski light microscopy. We found that the imaging quality can be much improved by coupling differential interference contrast-Nomarski to true (analogical) color video so as to visualize the image in real time on a high-resolution colour video monitor. We explain here how to apply this approach to the in vivo imaging of embryonic macrophages, which constitute a distinct early macrophage lineage, that originates from the rostral-most lateral mesoderm--adjacent to the cardiac field, differentiate in the yolk sac, and rapidly spread in embryonic tissues, although still retaining proliferative capacity.
authors.affiliation: Unité Macrophages et Développement de l'Immunité, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Herbomel
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Levraud
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000502:physiology*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods*; D018715:Microscopy, Video / Q000379:methods*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000196:embryology*