Name: the preparation of oblique spinal cord slices for ventral root stimulation
Uploaded: 2016-10-13T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Preparation of Oblique Spinal Cord Slices for Ventral Root Stimulation at JoVE.com

The authors thank Marin Manuel and Olivia Goldman-Szwajkajzer for their help in taking the photographs. The authors also thank Arjun Masukar and Tobias Bock for proofreading the manuscript. Financial supports were provided by the Agence Nationale pour la Recherche (HYPER-MND, ANR-2010-BLAN-1429-01), the NIH-NINDS (R01NS077863), the Thierry Latran Foundation (OHEX Project), the French association for myopathy (grant number 16026) and Target ALS are gratefully acknowledged. Felix Leroy was the recipient of a &#34;Contrat Doctoral&#34; from the Ecole Normale Sup&#233;rieure, Cachan.

&#160;The experiments were performed in accordance with European directives (86/609/CEE and 2010-63-UE) and French legislation, and&#160;were approved by the Paris Descartes University ethics committee.
1. Spinal Cord Slice Preparation
<ol>
	<li>Prepare the following solutions daily or one day in advance. If kept overnight, bubble with 95% O2 and 5% CO2 and keep refrigerated in tightly closed bottles.
	<ol>
		<li>Prepare Low Na + artificial cerebrospi...

<ol>
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S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Gower's+tract+and+spinal+border+cells.">Gower's tract and spinal border cells.</a> Brain. 63, 123-124 (1940).</li><li>Morin, F., Schwartz, H. G., O'Leary, J. 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Oblique slicing of the spinal cord is important since it allows for unilateral stimulation of motoneuron pools and Renshaw cells at a single vertebral segment in a reliable, comprehensive&#160;and specific way. Furthermore, it allows for a quick, elegant&#160;and non-ambiguous identification of recorded motoneurons. Next, we will highlight&#160;the advantages of this&#160;technique compared to other slice preparation methods, and then we will stress out&#160;the most common pitfalls to avoid while performing this procedu...

Historically, motoneuron recordings using sharp-electrode were conducted in vivo on large animals such as&#160;cats or rats1 or on an isolated whole spinal cord in&#160;mice2. The emergence of the patch-clamp recording technique during the 1980s, called for direct access to the motoneuron somas as sealing needed to be achieved under visual guidance. Thus, spinal cord slice preparation has been readily achieved since the early 1990s3. However, early slice preparation often did not allow for the stimulation of the ventral roots. To the best of our knowledge, only two studies have reported successful stimulation of the ventral roots in transverse slices, and none was obtained from mice4,5.
In this article we present a technique to achieve viable spinal cord slices of neonatal mice (P2 - P11) in which the motoneuron&#160;pool&#160;retains its&#160;ventral root departing&#160;axons. Ventral root stimulation triggers antidromic action potential back into the somas of the motoneuron&#160;pool&#160;exiting from the same ventral root. It also excites the motoneuron collateral targets,&#160;other motoneurons6-10 and the Renshaw cells11-13. Since only motoneurons&#160;send their axons down the ventral roots, we use the recording of antidromic action potentials as a simple and definitive way to physiologicaly identify motoneurons10.
In addition to using potentially non-inclusive or misleading electrophysiological and morphological&#160;criterions to confirm the motoneuron&#160;identity, recent studies on spinal cord motoneurons also relied on tedious and&#160;time-consuming post&#160;hoc stainings16. Such identification is usually performed only on a sample of the recorded cells. Other identification strategies rely&#160;on mouse lines in which the motoneurons express endogenous fluorescence17-19. However, using genetically encoded markers may be difficult at a young age when marker expression is still variable or if the study already requires using a transgenic mouse line. Alternatively, antidromic action potential recordings can be performed routinely on all mice from the onset of cell recording. Experimenters working on intact spinal cord preparations in the cat, rat and mouse, have reliably used such identification techniques since the 1950&#39;s1,2,20,21. In optimal conditions, we were able to elicit antidromic action potentials from virtually all of the recorded motoneurons.
Furthermore, ventral root stimulation can be used to reliably excite other motoneurons22,23&#160;or their targets. the&#160;Renshaw cells10,24,25. We present here applications of the ventral root stimulation in the form of antidromic action potential recordings from motoneuron somas, as well as excitation of Renshaw cells.

<table >
	<tbody>
		<tr >
			<td >Na-kynurenate</td>
			<td >ABCAM</td>
			<td >ab120256</td>
			<td >dissolves better then other brands</td>
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		<tr >
			<td >KCl</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >P3911</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >NaH2PO4</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >P5655</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >sucrose&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >S9378</td>
			<td></td>
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		<tr >
			<td >NaHCO3&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >S6014</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >CaCl2&#160;</td>
			<td >G Biosciences</td>
			<td >R040</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >MgCl2&#160;</td>
			<td >Quality Biological</td>
			<td >351-033-721</td>
			<td></td>
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		<tr >
			<td >glucose&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >G5767</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td >ascorbic acid&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >A5960</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Na-pyruvate&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >P2250</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >K-gluconate&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >P1847</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >EGTA&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >E3889</td>
			<td></td>
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			<td >HEPES&#160;</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >H4034</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >NaCl</td>
			<td >Sigma</td>
			<td >S9888</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Agar</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>A9799</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >QX-314</td>
			<td >Alomone</td>
			<td>Q150</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Mg-ATP</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >A9187</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >CsOH</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >232041</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Na-GTP</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >51120</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >gluconic acid</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >G1951</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Cesium hydroxide solution</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >232041</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >KOH</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td >P5958</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Vannas Spring Scissors - 2.5mm&#160;</td>
			<td >FST</td>
			<td>15000-08</td>
			<td>only use for cutting the dura, might get damaged if cutting bones</td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Stimulator</td>
			<td>A-M Systems</td>
			<td colspan="2">Isolated Pulse Stimulator Model 2100</td>
		</tr>
		<tr >
			<td >Vibratome</td>
			<td >Campden</td>
			<td >Vibrating Microtome 7000 - Model 7000smz-2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

the preparation of oblique spinal cord slices for ventral root stimulation

Electrophysiological recordings from spinal cord slices have proven to be a valuable technique to investigate a wide range of questions, from cellular to network properties. We show how to prepare viable oblique slices of the spinal cord of young mice (P2 - P11). In this preparation, the motoneurons retain&#160;their axons coming out from the ventral roots of the&#160;spinal cord. Stimulation of these axons elicits back-propagating action potentials invading the motoneuron&#160;somas and exciting the motoneuron&#160;collaterals within the spinal cord. Recording of antidromic action potentials is an immediate, definitive and elegant way to characterize motoneuron identity, which surpasses&#160;other identification methods. Furthermore, stimulating the motoneuron collaterals is a simple and reliable way to excite the collateral targets of the motoneurons within the spinal cord, such as other motoneurons or Renshaw cells. In this protocol, we present antidromic recordings from the motoneuron somas as well as Renshaw cell excitation, resulting from ventral root stimulation.

Confirmation of Motoneuron Identity Using Antidromic Action Potentials
Cell targeting
Motoneurons are found in the ventral horn (visible in red in Figure 2C). Start from the bundle of axons forming the ventral root and go up until the bundle disperses fully and one starts seeing large cells (long soma axis, above&#160;20...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about The Preparation of Oblique Spinal Cord Slices for Ventral Root Stimulation at JoVE.com

The Preparation of Oblique Spinal Cord Slices for Ventral Root Stimulation

We show how to prepare oblique slices of the spinal cord in young mice. This preparation allows for the stimulation of the ventral roots.

Electrophysiological recordings from spinal cord slices have proven to be a valuable technique to investigate a wide range of questions, from cellular to ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

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