Tracking Freely Walking Flies: A Method to Assess Locomotion in Drosophila
Published: April 30, 2023
Abstract
Source: Sun, M. and Chen, L. L. A Novel Method to Model Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Drosophila. J. Vis. Exp. (2017).
This video describes how to track freely walking flies to assess their general locomotion ability. The featured protocol demonstrates the assay's setup and data analysis using video tracking software.
Protocol
This protocol is an excerpt from Sun and Chen, A Novel Method to Model Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in Drosophila, J. Vis. Exp. (2017). 1. Video-assisted Movement Tracking Fill a 6-cm-diameter Petri dish with transparent silicon elastomer to make the tracking arena. Leave a 3 mm space between the silicon and the dish lid to allow the flies to walk freely but not fly. Anesthetize four flies from either the sham or treated group each time and…
Materials
| 60 mm Petri Dishes | Fisher Scientific | FB0875713A | Used as a tracking arenas |
| Flow Regulator | Genesee Scientific | 59-122WC | |
| Fine Brush | Genesee Scientific | 59-204 | |
| Flypad | Genesee Scientific | 59-114 | |
| Sylgard Silicone Elastomer | Dow Corning | 4019862 | |
| CCD Camera | Microsoft | HD-5000 | |
| Ctrax Walking Fly Tracker | Caltech | Ctrax 0.2.11 | |
| MATLAB Image Processing Toolbox | MATLAB | R2015b |
