A procedure is presented to visualize protein kinase A activities in head-fixed, behaving mice. An improved A-kinase activity reporter, tAKARα, is expressed in cortical neurons and made accessible for imaging through a cranial window. Two-photon fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy is used to visualize PKA activities in vivo during enforced locomotion.
Jongbloets, B. C., Ma, L., Mao, T., Zhong, H. Visualizing Protein Kinase A Activity In Head-fixed Behaving Mice Using In Vivo Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy. J. Vis. Exp. (148), e59526, doi:10.3791/59526 (2019).