Actin filaments within individual cells are visualized with Actin-Chromobody GFP mRNA injected into medaka embryos at stage 28 (somitogenesis stage). The data shows that actin is enriched in various types of cellular protrusions in different cells.
See details in Kawanishi et. al. (2023) BIO-PROTOCOL.
Toru Kawanishi, Ann Kathrin Heilig, Atsuko Shimada, Hiroyuki Takeda (2023) Visualization of Actin Cytoskeleton in Cellular Protrusions in Medaka Embryos., Bio-protocol, Volume 13, Number 13, pp. e4710
Published in 2023 Jul 5 (Electronic publication in July 5, 2023, midnight )
(Abstract) Cellular protrusions are fundamental structures for a wide variety of cellular behaviors, such as cell migration, cell-cell interaction, and signal reception. Visualization of cellular protrusions in living cells can be achieved by labeling of cytoskeletal actin with genetically encoded fluorescent probes. Here, we describe a detailed experimental procedure to visualize cellular protrusions in medaka embryos, which consists of the following steps: preparation of Actin-Chromobody-GFP and alpha-bungarotoxin mRNAs for actin labeling and immobilization of the embryo, respectively; microinjection of the mRNAs into embryos in a mosaic fashion to sparsely label individual cells; removal of the hard chorion, which hampers observation; and visualization of cellular protrusions in the embryo with a confocal microscope. Overall, our protocol provides a simple method to reveal cellular protrusions in vivo by confocal microscopy.