Nanobiolistic delivery of indicators to the living mouse retina

The development of a technique to load functional indicators into living neurons is an ongoing challenge in retinal neurophysiology. In a number of live-cell preparations, fluorescence-based indicators have been of particular importance for investigating ionic concentrations, protein localization, and other physiological parameters. In the present study, we demonstrate a novel technique that uses a modified gene gun to propel silver nanoparticles coated with indicators into live retinal neurons, and we highlight the advantages of using this technique to deliver these functional indicators.