PARALYTIC AGENTS WITHOUT IONS

Inducing paralysis in Xenopus embryos in the absence of ion channel effects

Procedure

1. BDM – butanedione-monoxime: use at about 20 mM.
   1. Either keep it as powder, and make up a fresh 0.5 M stock in water on the day of the experiment, vigorously vortex it for half a day at 27° C, and use at 10 mM
   2. Or use a 5 M DMSO stock. Note: this is bad for electrodes (such as vibrating probe)
2. N-benzyl-p-toluene sulphonamide (BTS): use at 10 microMolar Sigma-Aldrich S949760; stock = 2.61 mg + 1 ml DMSO; use 1:1000
3. Blebbistatin: stock = 5 mg + 50 microliters DMSO; use at 10 microliters + 10 ml 0.1X MMR. Sigma B0560.
4. alpha-bungarotoxin (1.25 µM, Sigma T3019)

This protocol is from Levin laboratory under Dr. Michael Levin at Tufts University.

PROTOCOL DEX