Methods to study the roles of Rho GTPases in dendritic tree complexity

Most neurons elaborate a characteristic dendritic arbor which is physiologically important for receiving and processing of synaptic inputs. Pathologically, disturbances in the regulation of dendritic tree complexity are often associated with mental retardation and other neurological deficits. Rho GTPases are major players in the regulation of dendritic tree complexity. They are involved in many signal transduction cascades, activated at the neuronal plasma membrane, and relayed to intracellular proteins that directly rearrange the cytoskeleton. The use of siRNA technology combined with morphometric and imaging techniques allows the roles of individual Rho GTPases, such as Rac1, in dendritic branching to be examined. In this chapter we describe the establishment, transfection, and processing of a primary hippocampal cell culture. Methods to assess the complexity of dendritic arbors like the Sholl analysis, and techniques to investigate Rac1 activity in hippocampal cells, and specifically in neuronal dendrites, such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging are presented.