Live cell imaging of cytoskeletal dynamics in neurons using fluorescence photoactivation

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders share some common features at the cellular level, which are often associated with a change in cytoskeletal dynamics. Live cell imaging has been applied to study various aspects of cell physiology including cytoskeletal dynamics. Recently, fluorescence photoactivation (FPA) has been developed as a novel approach to analyze protein dynamics in living cells with high sensitivity. Here, we describe the application of FPA to determine interactions and mobility of the microtubule-associated protein tau in neurons as an example for a disease-related cytoskeletal protein and discuss further applications of FPA to study cytoskeletal dynamics in neurodegenerative diseases.