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Updated: May 30, 2026
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Subcellular Imaging of Neuronal Calcium Handling In Vivo
Published on: March 17, 2023
In vivo calcium dynamics during neural crest cell migration and patterning using GCaMP3
Mary Cathleen McKinney1, Paul M Kulesa
1Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA.
Developmental Biology
|August 26, 2011
Summary
Neural crest (NC) cell calcium dynamics are crucial for embryogenesis. This study used a genetic calcium sensor to reveal that trunk NC cells exhibit more calcium transients during aggregation, particularly before sympathetic ganglia formation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental biology
- Cellular neuroscience
- Embryogenesis research
Background:
- Understanding neural crest (NC) cell calcium dynamics is key to deciphering cell migration and patterning during embryonic development.
- Current calcium indicators are limited to cell cultures or superficial analyses due to issues with microinjection and signal-to-noise ratio in vivo.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate in vivo calcium dynamics during neural crest cell migration and patterning.
- To utilize a genetically encoded calcium sensor for studying specific cell populations during embryogenesis.
Main Methods:
- Employed the genetically encoded calcium sensor GCaMP3 for in vivo imaging of neural crest cell calcium dynamics.
- Compared calcium transients between trunk and cranial neural crest cells, and during aggregation versus migration events.
- Investigated the role of N-cadherin activity by blocking it in trunk neural crest cells and analyzed cell aggregation using mathematical modeling.
Main Results:
- Trunk neural crest cells showed significantly more spontaneous calcium transients than cranial neural crest cells.
- Calcium transients were more frequent during neural crest cell aggregation into sympathetic ganglia (SG) compared to migration.
- Blocking N-cadherin activity in trunk NC cells near presumptive SG dramatically reduced spontaneous calcium transient frequency.
- Mathematical modeling indicated that neural crest cells aggregate into clusters following a spontaneous calcium transient during SG formation.
Conclusions:
- Genetically encoded calcium indicators offer a novel approach for studying in vivo calcium dynamics in specific embryonic cell subsets.
- Spontaneous calcium transients are linked to neural crest cell aggregation and sympathetic ganglia formation, involving N-cadherin activity.
