Immunofluorescence Imaging of Drosophila Tissues

For analysis of muscle, thoraces of 1- to 2-day-old-adult flies were dissected and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in phosphate buffered saline (PBS). After thoraces were washed three times in PBS, muscle fibers were isolated and stained with rhodamine phalloidin (Invitrogen, 1:1000) in PBS+1% Triton X-100. For antibody staining, muscle fibers were permeabilized in PBS+0.1% Triton X-100, blocked in 5% normal goat serum in PBS, and incubated in primary and secondary antibodies diluted in 5% normal goat serum in PBS. For analysis of dopaminergic neurons, brains of 3-day-old male flies were dissected and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS. Blocking, primary and secondary antibody staining were performed as described previously (Yun et al., 2008 (link)). To analyze mitochondria in salivary glands, salivary glands of third instar larvae were dissected, fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in PBS, and stained with rhodamine phalloidin. The following primary antibodies were used: mouse anti-ATP Synthase (Mitosciences, Eugene, OR), chicken anti-HA (Millipore, Billerica, CA), mouse anti-Tyrosine Hydroxylase (Immunostar Hudson, WI). All images were taken on a Zeiss LSM5 confocal microscope.