Abstract
Genetically encoded calcium indicators (GECIs) have become widely used for Ca2+ imaging in cultured cells as well as in living organisms. Transduction of microglia with viral vectors encoding GECIs provides a convenient means to label microglia for in vivo Ca2+ imaging. We describe a method using microglia-specific microRNA-9-regulated viral vector, to label microglial cells with a ratiometric GECI (Twitch-2B). This method enables longitudinal recording of both transient and sustained elevations of Ca2+ in microglia in live animals.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Wilhelm Pfleging from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for the preparation of microengineered cover glasses for our project, which was funded by Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMF Proposal #2013-009-001195) and Ariane Kaupp for help with graphics. This work was supported by VolkswagenStiftung Grant 90233 and DFG GA654/13-1 to O.G.
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Liang, Y., Garaschuk, O. (2019). Labeling Microglia with Genetically Encoded Calcium Indicators. In: Garaschuk, O., Verkhratsky, A. (eds) Microglia. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2034. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9658-2_18
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