Table 1.

Fluorescent probes used for imaging cell structure and signaling in motile cells and growth cones.

Signal/cellular structure	Probes	Description/Function	Cell type	Reference
F-Actin	Utrophin Lifeact Phalloidin	Calponin homology domain of Utrophin 17 AA peptide from Abp140F bicyclic heptapeptide isolated from mushroom	Assorted non- neuronal, neurons in vivo and growth cones	(Dent and Kalil, 2001; Burkel et al., 2007; Riedl et al., 2008; Andersen et al., 2010; Jang et al., 2010; Marsick et al., 2010)(Figure 3)
G-Actin	Monomeric actin	Labels actin (G and F actin)	Assorted non- neuronal and growth cones	(Flynn et al., 2009)
F-Actin barbed end	KabiramideC	Binds and caps the plus end of F-actin.	Fibroblast, growth cone	(Petchprayoon et al., 2005; Keren et al., 2008) (Figure 3)
Microtubules	Tubulin EMTB	Labels microtubules Binds microtubules	Assorted non-neuronal and growth cones	(Dent and Kalil, 2001; Miller and Bement, 2009)
Microtubule plus ends	EB1, EB3, APC, clasp, etc.	Tracks polymerizing MTs	Assorted non- neuronal and growth cones	(Lee et al., 2004; Zhou et al., 2004; Koester et al., 2007)
Motor proteins	Dynein, Kinesin, Myosins	Transports cargo along MTs and F-actin	Assorted non- neuronal and growth cones	(Berg and Cheney, 2002; Brown and Bridgman, 2003; Ha et al., 2008)
Rho family GTPases	Raichu, Hahn probes (FRET) GFP-CRIB domains	Measures RhoA, Rac1, Cdc42 activity. Localizes active GTPases	Assorted non- neuronal, PC12, primary neurons and growth cones	(Aoki et al., 2004; Benink and Bement, 2005; Zhang et al., 2005; Machacek et al., 2009) (Figure 3)
Phosphatidyl-inositol	PH domain from PLC-δ1, Akt	Localizes to membrane rich with PIP2 and PIP3	Assorted non- neuronal and growth cones	(Jacob et al., 2005; Ketschek and Gallo, 2010)
Tyrosine Kinases	Src, FAK (FRET)	Measures Src and FAK activity	Assorted non- neuronal cells	(Ting et al., 2001; Cai et al., 2008; Na et al., 2008)
Phosphotyrosine	dSH2	Localizes to proteins tyrosine phosphorylated by Src	Assorted non- neuronal, growth cones	(Kirchner et al., 2003; Robles et al., 2005; Baker et al., 2008) (Figure 3)
Adhesions	Paxillin, Vinculin, Talin, Integrins	Targets focal adhesions and point contacts	Assorted non-neuronal and growth cones	(Smilenov et al., 1999; Robles and Gomez, 2006; Woo et al., 2009) (Figure 3)
cAMP	FlCRhR, PKA-, EPAC-based (FRET)	FRET sensors measure cytosolic cAMP levels	Neurons and growth cones	(Gorbunova and Spitzer, 2002; Dunn and Feller, 2008)
Calcium	Organic dyes Cameleons (FRET) -GCaMP	Reports relative changes in intracellular Ca2+ or absolute [Ca2+]i Genetically encoded forms can be targeted	Assorted non neuronal, neurons in vivo and growth cones	(Gomez and Spitzer, 1999; Gomez et al., 2001; Horikawa et al., 2010; Hutchins et al., 2011)