Here we describe two assays that have been established to study age-dependent neurodegeneration of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in Drosophila: the climbing/startle-induced negative geotaxis assay which allows to study the functional effects of DA neurons degeneration and the tyrosine hydroxylase immunostaining which is used to identify and count DA neurons in whole brain mounts.

assessing-neurodegenerative-phenotypes-drosophila-dopaminergic

Assessing Neurodegenerative Phenotypes in Drosophila Dopaminergic Neurons by Climbing Assays and Whole Brain Immunostaining

Drosophila melanogaster is a valuable model organism to study aging and pathological degenerative processes in the nervous system. The advantages of the ...

Here we describe a method to directly visualize microregional tissue hypoxia in the mouse cortex in vivo. It is based on concurrent two-photon imaging of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH) and the cortical microcirculation. This method is useful for high resolution analysis of tissue oxygen supply.

detection-microregional-hypoxia-mouse-cerebral-cortex-two-photon

Detection of Microregional Hypoxia in Mouse Cerebral Cortex by Two-photon Imaging of Endogenous NADH Fluorescence

The brain's ability to function at high levels of metabolic demand depends on continuous oxygen supply through blood flow and tissue oxygen diffusion. ...

Institution - University of Rochester Medical Center

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