Fig. 5

Light-inducible neural ablation using the GAVPO/M2H37Asystem. (A) Heterozygous Tg(elavl3:GAVPO;UAS:M2H37A;myl7:mCherry) embryos were injected with an elavl3:mCherry-CAAX construct to label neurons in a mosaic manner. The injected embryos were globally irradiated with a blue LED lamp at 48 hpf for 8 h, fixed 12 h later and then imaged using a confocal microscope. Representative micrographs from a hindbrain slice just above the otic vesicle are shown. Irradiated embryos have fewer intact neurons (arrowheads) than those cultured in the dark or treated with 100 µg/ml rimantadine during blue-light illumination. Neurons were counted in ImageJ in a blinded manner, and the average number of neurons per slice±s.d. for each experimental condition is shown. (B) Representative micrographs from a maximal intensity projection of the spinal cord just above the cloaca, with axonal tract widths in selected regions indicated by the dashed lines. The average axonal tract width±s.d. for each experimental condition are shown. Values for individual fish are shown. The box extends from the 25th to 75th percentiles. The whiskers extend to the minimum and maximum values. The horizontal line indicates the average value. Embryo orientations: A,B, lateral view, anterior left. Scale bars: 25 µm.