Imaging of Calcium in Drosophila Larval Motor Nerve Terminals

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Abstract
Karunanithi, Shanker, John Georgiou, Milton P. Charlton, and Harold L. Atwood. Imaging of calcium in Drosophila larval motor nerve terminals. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 3465–3467, 1997. Calcium measurements in the presynaptic terminal are essential in the investigation of mechanisms underlying neurotransmitter release. To enhance the genetic analysis of secretory mechanisms, we have developed Ca2+ imaging techniques for Drosophila larval motor nerve terminals. We studied Ca2+ signals in “big” (type Ib) and “small” (type Is) boutons that innervate ventral longitudinal muscles 6 and 7 in each abdominal segment of Canton-S (CS)-strain 3rd instar larvae. The indicator fluo-3 in conjunction with confocal microscopy was used to detect stimulus-dependent changes in [Ca2+]i. The Ca2+ signals were reliable and reproducible, and the resting fluorescence remained constant throughout the experiments. The Ca2+ signals increased with stimulus frequency from 5 to 20 Hz for both bouton types. No significant differences in the Ca2+ signals were seen between the two bouton types at 5 and 20 Hz, but there was a difference at 10 Hz. The decay of the Ca2+ signal was more prolonged after 20-Hz stimulation than after 5 and 10 Hz. At the single-synapse level, the secretory efficacy of Is synapses is greater than that of Ib synapses, but our data show that factors other than differences in Ca2+ entry may govern the strength of synaptic transmission.