Design and practice of the comprehensive experiment of induction and detection of tunneling nanotubes

Induction and detection of tunneling nanotubes: comprehensive experimental design and practice． One important way to improve quality of undergraduate practical class is to transform cutting-edge theories and research techniques of cell biology into practical experiments． Knowledge of tunneling nanotubes (TNT) is used to design a comprehensive and exploratory experiment, including establishment of serum-starvation model and tunneling nanotubes induction, observation of tunneling nanotubes structure by staining of cell microfilaments and nuclei, and detection of cell cycle by flow cytometry． Students would first establish serum-starvation model by decreasing serum concentration for different cell types, then use cell crawler for fluorescence staining, and observe the bridge-like TNT structure under a fluorescence microscope． Flow cytometry is used to detect changes of the proportion of G1 cells in the cell cycle in starvation． These experiments facilitate student hands-on experience and stimulate their interest in exploration．