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This thesis aims to provide an overview of real-time live-cell imaging methods with a focus on the signalling pathways. The first, most thorough section is about fluorescence methods and is followed by sections about bioluminescence and label-free methods. In the fluorescence section, we will at first introduce the types of fluorophores and respective labelling approaches. Subsequently, we will go through the individual techniques, starting with single-fluorophore and FRET biosensors, continuing with kinetic modelling approaches, a FLIM method used to detect changes in the cellular environment, and ending with two methods used to improve the resolution. With each technique, we will shortly explain the working principle and look at the examples at which this method was used. Finally, we will look at the example of live-cell imaging of one signalling cascade.

athways Wnt, Notch, TNF, Bmp, FGF, Shh and TGFβ are involved in the dental development. Schöpf-

Intracellular signalling molecules create the signalling cascades which enable the transfer of the signal to the cell. In this work we have studied the influence of tick saliva on the cytokine production and the activation of signalling pathways in ionomycin stimulated murine mast cells. We found out that tick saliva inhibits production of several cytokines and affects two important signalling pathways in mast cells possibly involved in the regulation of cytokine induction.

Insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGF-1 and -2) together with their receptors take part in a complex system, which affects both basal metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins as well as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Defects in action of insulin or IGFs can lead to serious diseases such as diabetes or cancer. Both of these disorders represent nowadays one of the biggest health threats to the world's population. Insulin and IGFs induce different biological effects through their cognate receptors; two isoforms of the insulin receptor (IR-A and IR-B) and the receptor for IGF-1 (IGF-1R). These receptors bind insulin and IGFs with different affinities and induce different but partially overlapping signalling events leading towards metabolic (especially insulin) or mitogenic responses (IGFs and insulin). To understand the mechanism of action of insulin and IGFs it is important to specify which structural domains of these hormones are responsible for binding to the receptors and exerting specific effects. One region that is missing in insulin is the D-domain of IGF-1 and -2. For this reason, we decided to prepare insulin analogues with the A-chain extended by either the whole D-domain of IGF-1 or IGF-2, or by fragments of the IGF-1 D-domain in order to define the...