Immunostaining of Drosophila Neural Tissues

Primary fly neurons and fibroblasts were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) in 0.05 M phosphate buffer (PB; pH 7–7.2) for 30 min at room temperature (RT); for anti-Eb1 staining, ice-cold +TIP fix (90% methanol, 3% formaldehyde, 5 mM sodium carbonate, pH 9; stored at −80°C and added to the cells; Rogers et al., 2002 (link)) was added for 10 mins. Adult brains were dissected out of their head cases in PBS and fixed with 4% PFA in PBS for 1 hr, followed by a 1 hr wash in PBT.
Antibody staining and washes were performed with PBT. Staining reagents: anti-tubulin (RRID:AB_477593, clone DM1A, mouse, 1:1000, Sigma; alternatively, RRID:AB_2210391, clone YL1/2, rat, 1:500, Millipore Bioscience Research Reagents); anti-DmEb1 (gift from H. Ohkura; rabbit, 1:2000; Elliott et al., 2005 (link)); anti-Elav (mouse, 1:1000, DSHB, RRID:AB_528218); anti-GFP (ab6673, goat, 1:500, Abcam, RRID:AB_305643); Cy3-conjugated anti-HRP (goat, 1:100, Jackson ImmunoResearch); F-actin was stained with Phalloidin conjugated with TRITC/Alexa647, FITC or Atto647N (1:100 or 1:500; Invitrogen and Sigma). Specimens were embedded in ProLong Gold Antifade Mountant.