Nature’s Wonders
November 25, 2008 at 10:38 pm | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsAfter a semester of overcoming obstacles and setbacks I have learned that scientific research is unpredictable. During the past months, I have been reading scientific literature, taking care of our Drosophila cultures, searching for necessary antibodies, and immunostaining mutant embryos. While revising articles I found information on antibodies aganinst cell adhesion molecules such as Fas II, Fas III, N-cadherin, connectin, capricious, DSCAM. These cell adhesions molecules are important factors in neuromuscular synaptogensis because they mediate processes such as axon path-finding and synaptic targeting. We have found that these antibodies are necessary for our project because by localizing them and describing their behavior during the synapse formation we might have a better understanding of their individual roles in neuromuscular synaptogenesis.
The immunostaining of Drosophila embryos with anti-myosin solution gave unexpected results. Although we were unable to distinguish the presensce of myosin in the muscles we found that the embryos’ tracheas were clearly immunostained. The trachea, which was still in formation, showed filopodial extensions in search for the adjacent cell that will close the tubular structure. Here I include some images of the immunostained Drosophila trachea that include the filopodial extensions. You might notice that in these pictures, the trachea looks like a swan inside the embryo
Snapshot, trachea 3DEmbryo trachea 3D
Regarding our laboratory, we are now completely set up and stocked and ready to begin a period of continous experimentation. The Drosophila population is mite-free and thriving. We still have some problems with fungal contamination in some vials but we are mantaining that under control.
In the next semester we will be acquiring more anti-myosin antibodies in order to localize the different myosins throught the post-synaptic cell at various developmental stages. We will also be starting experimentations with the cell adhesion molecules to asses their individual functions in neuromuscular synaptogensis
Why it all matters
November 6, 2008 at 6:14 pm | In Uncategorized | 2 CommentsScientific research cannot exist without having an ultimate purpose of advancing the knowledge base on a specific field. Neuromuscular synaptogenesis is a process of which much has still to be studied. Because it is a field not well known, every small discovery will contribute immensely to its advancement. This crucial process where the neuron meets the muscle is important for the correct function of the organisms in which it ocurrs. The identity, function, and relationship of several proteins found in the process of neuromuscular synaptogenesis are an important question that researchers in developmental neurobiology all over the world are asking themselves. The study of these proyeins will later become key to the creation of treatment for neurological diseases that involve defects I this process. The identification of specific motor proteins, in this case myosins, that are present at the onset of neuromuscular synaptogenesis will be a small block in creating the wall of knowledge in the field.
For reasons explained in previous blogs, it has been difficult to conduct experiments on a daily basis for the completion of this project, which is in level 2 of completion.
