title: Imaging the dorsal-ventral axis of live and fixed Drosophila melanogaster embryos.
abstract: Optimal imaging conditions are of critical importance in developmental biology, as much of the data in the discipline is acquired through microscopy. However, imaging deep sections of tissue, especially live tissue, can be a technical challenge due to light scattering and difficulties in mounting the sample. In particular, capturing high-quality images of dorsal-ventral cross sections requires "end-on" mounting to orient the anterior-posterior axis vertically. Here we present methods to mount and image dorsal-ventral cross sections of both live and fixed Drosophila melanogaster embryos. Our methods have the advantages of being rapid, allowing deep optical sections, and not requiring expensive, specialized equipment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, 911 Partners Way, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA.
authors.forename: Sophia N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Carrell
authors.forename: Gregory T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Reeves
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000196:embryology*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016707:Tissue Fixation
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins