Measuring ventral nerve cord stiffness in live flat-dissected Drosophila embryos by atomic force microscopy

Abstract

Drosophila is an amenable system for addressing the mechanics of morphogen-esis. We describe a workflow for characterizing the mechanical properties of its ventral nerve cord (VNC), at different developmental stages, in live, flat-dissected embryos employing atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM is performed with spherical probes, and stiffness (Young’s modulus) is calculated by fitting force curves with Hertz’s contact model.
For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Karkali et al. (2022).

Reference:

Katerina Karkali; Ignasi Jorba; Daniel Navajas; Enrique Martín-Blanco. Measuring ventral nerve cord stiffness in live flat-dissected Drosophila embryos by atomic force microscopy. STAR Protocols. Volume 3, Issue 4. 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101901