Yeshiva University

4 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

Revealing Neural Circuit Topography in Multi-Color

Stacey L. Reeber¹, Samrawit A. Gebre¹, Nika Filatova¹, Roy V. Sillitoe¹

¹Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University

We provide a practical guide for delivering tracers in vivo and use the spinocerebellar pathway as a model system to demonstrate essential steps for successful neuronal circuit analysis in mice. We describe in detail our versatile tracing protocol that exploits wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) conjugated to Alexa fluorophores.

Neuroscience

Wholemount Immunohistochemistry for Revealing Complex Brain Topography

Joshua J. White¹, Stacey L. Reeber¹, Richard Hawkes², Roy V. Sillitoe¹

¹Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University , ²Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary

Neural circuits are topographically organized into functional compartments with specific molecular profiles. Here, we provide the practical and technical steps for revealing global brain topography using a versatile wholemount immunohistochemical staining approach. We demonstrate the utility of the method using the well-understood cytoarchitecture and circuitry of cerebellum.

Chemistry

LabVIEW-operated Novel Nanoliter Osmometer for Ice Binding Protein Investigations

Ido Braslavsky^1,2, Ran Drori¹

¹Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science, and Nutrition , The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, ²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ohio University

Ice binding proteins (IBPs), also known as antifreeze proteins, inhibit ice growth and are a promising additive for use in the cryopreservation of tissues. The main tool used to investigate IBPs is the nanoliter osmometer. We developed a home-designed cooling stage mounted on an optical microscope and controlled using a custom-built LabVIEW routine. The nanoliter osmometer described here manipulated the sample temperature in an ultra-sensitive manner.

Chemistry

A Microfluidic Approach for the Study of Ice and Clathrate Hydrate Crystallization

Ran Drori^1,2, Yitzhar Shalom^1,2

¹Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Yeshiva University, ²Department of Physics, Katz School of Science and Health, Yeshiva University

The present protocol describes the crystallization of microscopic ice crystals and clathrate hydrates in microfluidic devices, enabling liquid exchange around the formed crystals. This provides unparalleled possibilities to examine the crystallization process and binding mechanisms of the inhibitors.