A live-imaging protocol to track cell movement in the Xenopus embryo

Alexandre Chuyen (1) , Fabrice Daian (1) , Andrea Pasini (1) , Laurent Kodjabachian (1)

1 IBDM - Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille

Tracking individual cell movement during development is challenging, particularly in tissues subjected to major remodeling. Currently, most live imaging techniques in Xenopus are limited to tissue explants and/or to superficial cells. We describe here a protocol to track immature multiciliated cells (MCCs) moving within the inner epidermal layer of a whole embryo. In addition, we present a data processing protocol to uncouple the movements of individual cells from the coplanar drifts of the tissue in which they are embedded. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Chuyen et al. (2021).

Keywords: Cell; Biology; Developmental biology; Microscopy; Model; Organisms

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Alexandre Chuyen, Fabrice Daian, Andrea Pasini, Laurent Kodjabachian. A live-imaging protocol to track cell movement in the Xenopus embryo. STAR Protocols, 2021, 2 (4), pp.100928. ⟨10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100928⟩. ⟨hal-03419332⟩