What is brain slice electrophysiology?
The slice preparation or brain slice is a laboratory technique in electrophysiology that allows the study of a synapse or neural circuit in isolation from the rest of the brain, in controlled physiological conditions.
How do you make brain slices?
In general, to prepare acute brain slices, a whole-brain is dissected out from an animal and quickly immersed into ice-cold (<4°C) cutting solution to slow down the metabolic activity in tissue blocks, which are sliced by a microtome at ice-cold temperature (CT).
What are brain slices called?
The coronal plane is also called the frontal plane. Slices of the brain taken in the coronal plane are similar to the slices from a loaf of bread. Horizontal cuts are made as if you were slicing a hamburger bun or bagel. The sagittal plane divides the right and left side of the brain into parts.
What are acute slices?
Brain slices are ex vivo preparations obtained by serial sectioning of brain tissue, typically from rats or mice. Acute brain slices are kept vital in vitro for time periods between four and, sometimes, more than twenty-four hours and contain a functional brain cell micro-circuitry in situ.
How long do brain slices last?
Normally, the lifespan of a brain slice, from either a rat or a mouse, is limited to 6–12 hours. Moreover, it has been shown that the vast majority of the cells in hippocampal and neocortical thin slices can only be maintained in a healthy state for about 4 hours12.
How do you oxygenate ACSF?
Bring to a volume of 2 L with distilled H2O. Using an aquarium bubbler and tubing attached to a 95\% O2/5\% CO2 air tank, oxygenate ACSF vigorously for approximately 20-30 min. Check the pH, and if necessary, adjust to 7.4 using NaOH or HCl.
What are the three ways to slice a brain?
There are three different ways that a brain can be sectioned in order to view internal structures: a sagittal section cuts the brain left to right, as shown in Figure 1b, a coronal section cuts the brain front to back, as shown in Figure 1a, and a horizontal section cuts the brain top to bottom.
What are hippocampal slices?
Hippocampal slices (400 μm thick) are prepared with a McIlwain tissue chopper and placed in an interface chamber at room temperature. Slices are oxygenated by bubbling a gas mixture of 95\% O2/5\% CO2 through ACSF in the maintenance chamber, ensuring that the slices are properly oxygenated without drying them.
How many brain slices can you cut for a given brain structure?
For full brain data, which contains about 200 slices, we use about 30 slices with minimal artifacts – 1/6 to 1/7 of the whole sequence. In the anatomical study, each sectional brain consists of about 35 slices. We use every third image for most of the brains – about 12 slices for each experimental brain.
How do you keep brain slices alive?
they have been very helpful. i will double check and make sure the temperature in the recording chamber is around 30-32 degrees. for recovery, i left it in 32 degrees for about 30 minutes and then room temperature for another 30 minutes or more. i will keep the slices at room temperature for the whole hour from now on.
How do you preserve brain slices?
Incubate brains in 4\% PFA for at least 24 hours at 4 °C. Brains can be stored for prolonged periods (months to years) at 4 °C provided they are kept submerged 4\% PFA.
What can we learn from a slice electrophysiology of the brain?
Brain slice electrophysiology allows one to study a variety of neuronal properties (intrinsic excitability, synaptic function/plasticity), offering a mechanistic insight into drug action. Without the caveat of the blood-brain barrier, as in an in vivo model, drugs can be directly applied.
What can we learn from multi-electrode array electrophysiology of the brain?
Multi-electrode array electrophysiology of brain slices is a valuable technique in the study of synaptic plasticity, which is thought to underlie learning, memory, and some brain pathologies.
What is a slice of the brain used for?
The brain slice preparation is now used as a system for the study of brain met abolism, pharmacology of drugs in the CNS, and as a model for numerous pathological situations. In our laboratory, the rat hippocampal slice is being used for the study of cerebral hypoxia.
What is action potential discharge in the brain?
Action potential discharges by single neurons in slices (Purkinje cells, neocortical neurons, dorsal raphe neurons) Over the past 40 years, scientists and commercial efforts have pushed to advance brain slice electrophysiology using MEAs. MEA bridges the gap between single-cell recordings and behavioral assays.