Investigation of lipid homeostasis in living Drosophila by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy

Citation:
Chien, CH, Chen WW, Wu JT, Chang TC.  2012.  Investigation of lipid homeostasis in living Drosophila by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy, Dec. J Biomed Opt. 17:126001., Number 12

Abstract:

To improve our understanding of lipid metabolism, Drosophila is used as a model animal, and its lipid homeostasis is monitored by coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy. We are able to achieve in vivo imaging of larval fat body (analogous to adipose tissue in mammals) and oenocytes (analogous to hepatocytes) in Drosophila larvae at subcellular level without any labeling. By overexpressing two lipid regulatory proteins--Brummer lipase (Bmm) and lipid storage droplet-2 (Lsd-2)--we found different phenotypes and responses under fed and starved conditions. Comparing with the control larva, we observed more lipid droplet accumulation by approximately twofold in oenocytes of fat-body-Bmm-overexpressing (FB-Bmm-overexpressing) mutant under fed condition, and less lipid by approximately fourfold in oenocytes of fat-body-Lsd-2-overexpressing (FB-Lsd-2-overexpressing) mutant under starved condition. Moreover, together with reduced size of lipid droplets, the lipid content in the fat body of FB-Bmm-overexpressing mutant decreases much faster than that of the control and FB-Lsd-2-overexpressing mutant during starvation. From long-term starvation assay, we found FB-Bmm-overexpressing mutant has a shorter lifespan, which can be attributed to faster consumption of lipid in its fat body. Our results demonstrate in vivo observations of direct influences of Bmm and Lsd-2 on lipid homeostasis in Drosophila larvae.

Notes:

Chien, Cheng-HaoChen, Wei-WenWu, June-TaiChang, Ta-ChauengResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov't2012/12/05 06:00J Biomed Opt. 2012 Dec;17(12):126001. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.12.126001.

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