Nós graciosamente agradecer ao Dr. John Hayes para scripts; drs. Eric Bradley e Christopher Del Negro para a assistência com a microscopia confocal, de Drew Hughes, Laura Odorizzi, Alex Garafalo, Rebecca Lowden, e Liz MacMurray por seu trabalho no desenvolvimento do projeto e fornecer dados preliminares, o Dr. Greg Smith para sugestões úteis sobre a análise estatística. Este trabalho foi financiado por uma bolsa do NIH (NINDS IR15N5067566-01) para MSS e do Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science Education Grant para o College of William and Mary.

Não há conflitos de interesse declarados.

Com os seus tipos de células bem caracterizadas que são conservados entre todos os vertebrados, a retina é um modelo útil para o estudo dos processos moleculares, celulares que regulam a especificação celular e diferenciação do tipo. Cultura celular primária proporciona um método poderoso para a investigação de uma grande variedade de processos, incluindo a expressão de genes, a dinâmica de proteínas, e de cálcio e actividade eléctrica no nível de resolução única célula. Aqui apresentamos uma técn...

<table border="1"><tbody><tr><td> Nome do reagente </td><td> Companhia </td><td> Número de catálogo </td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td> Para dissecções e cultura </td></tr><tr><td> BD Falcon fáceis de aderência de tecido placas de cultura, 35 mm </td><td> Pescador </td><td> 08-772A </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Pratos descartáveis ​​de Petri de poliestireno, 60 x 15 mm </td><td> Pescador </td><td> 0875713A </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> 35 milímetros Nunclon superfície pratos de Petri (com Airvent) </td><td> Pescador </td><td> 12-565-91 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Dumont Fina Fórceps (Dumostar # 55) </td><td> Pescador </td><td> NC9341917 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Cellattice Micro-governado lamela de plástico, 25 mm </td><td> Pescador </td><td> 50-313-17 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Etil-m-aminobenzoato metanossulfonato de sal (MS-222) </td><td> MP Biomedicals, LLC </td><td> 103106 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Sulfato de gentamicina </td><td> Enzo Ciências da Vida </td><td> 380-003-G025 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Gibco tripsina (1:250) Pó </td><td> Life Technologies </td><td> 27250-018 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Colagenase B a partir de Clostridium histolyticum </td><td> Roche </td><td> 11088831001 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Penicilina-Estreptomicina </td><td> Gibco </td><td> 15140-122 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Sulfato Azul do Nilo (opcional) </td><td> Pfaltz &amp; Bauer </td><td> N05550 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> 500 ml Sistema de Vácuo Garrafa filtro / Storage, de 0,22 Pore 33,2 centímetros Membrana CN 2 </td><td> Corning </td><td> 430758 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td> &lt;/ Td&gt; <td></td><td> For Imaging Cálcio </td></tr><tr><td> Fluo-4 AM 1 mM em solução de DMSO, Cell Permanente </td><td> Life Technologies </td><td> F-14217 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Solução de Pluronic F-127 a 10% em água </td><td> Life Technologies </td><td> P-6866 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> LSM 510 Sistema de microscópio confocal </td><td> Zeiss </td><td> Modelo descontinuado </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Bloqueio de Reagente </td><td> Roche </td><td> 11096176001 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td> Para a hibridização fluorescente in situ (FISH) </td></tr><tr><td> Anti-digoxigenina-Pod, Fab Fragments </td><td> Roche </td><td> 11207733910 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Anti-DNP-HRP Antibody </td><td> Perkin-Elmer </td><td> NEL747A </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Cy3NHS éster </td><td> GE Healthcare </td><td> PA13101 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> NHS-Fluorescein </td><td> Thermo Scientific </td><td> 46409 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Formamida desionizada, </td><td> Amresco </td><td> 0606-950mL </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Torula RNA, Tipo IX </td><td> Sigma-Aldrich </td><td> R3629 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> Sal de sódio da heparina, da mucosa intestinal suína </td><td> Sigma-Aldrich </td><td> H3393-250KU </td><td></td></tr><tr><td> CHAPS </td><td> Sigma-Aldrich </td><td> C3023 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td> Tabela 2. Reagentes específicos e de equipamento. </td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td><table border="1"><tbody><tr><td> Solução </td><td> Referência </td><td> Conteúdo </td></tr><tr><td> Meio de Cultura de células </td><td> Chang e Spitzer, 2009 54 </td><td> 116 mM de NaCl 0,67 mM de KCl 2 mM de CaCl 2 1,31 mM MgSO 4 4,6 mM Tris 1% (v: v) de Penicilina / Estreptomicina Ajustar o pH para 7,8 com HCl. Filtrar esterilizar por passagem através de um filtro de 0,22 um CN. Armazenar a 4 ° C. </td></tr><tr><td> Cálcio-Magnésio Grátis Médio (CMF) </td><td> Gu et al, 1994 42;. Gu e Spitzer, 1995 55 </td><td> 116 mM de NaCl 0,67 mM de KCl 4,6 mM Tris 0,4 mM EDTA 1% (v: v) de Penicilina / Estreptomicina Ajustar o pH para 7,8 com HCl. Filtrar esterilizar por passagem através de um filtro de 0,22 um CN. Armazenar a 4 ° C. </td></tr><tr><td> Tampão de ácido maleico (MAB) </td><td> Sive et ai., 2000 53 </td><td> 100 mM de ácido maleico 150 mM NaCl (pH 7,5). </td></tr><tr><td> Modificado Marc Ringer (MMR), 10X </td><td> Sive et ai., 2000 53 </td><td> 100 mM de NaCl mM KCl 1 mM MgSO4 2 mM de CaCl 2 5 mM de HEPES pH ajustado para 7,4 com NaOH 0,1 X MMR também contém 50 mg / ml de sulfato de gentamicina e o pH é ajustado para 7,4 com NaOH. </td></tr><tr><td> Solução MEMFA, 10X </td><td> Sive et ai., 2000 53 </td><td> MOPS 0,1 M (pH 7,4) 2 mM de EGTA 1 mM MgSO4 Formaldeído 3,7% A solução 10X, sem formaldeido, pode ser armazenado a 4 ° C. O formaldeído é adicionado fresco (1/10 de volume de uma unidade padrão de 37%). </td></tr><tr><td> Em tampão de hibridação in situ </td><td> Sive et al., 2000 53 </td><td> Formamida a 50% SSC 5X 1 mg / ml de ARN Torula 100 mg / ml de heparina Solução 1X Denhart de 0,1% de Tween 20 CHAPS a 0,1% 10 mM de EDTA. </td></tr></tbody></table> Soluções. * Gentamicina, um antibiótico, é usado em soluções de nossos MMR enquanto penicilina e estreptomicina são utilizados em meios de cultura nossos. </td></tr></tbody></table>

dissection, culture, and analysis of xenopus laevis embryonic retinal tissue

O processo pelo qual a região anterior da placa neural dá origem à retina de vertebrados continua a ser um dos principais focos da investigação clínica e básica. Para além da óbvia importância médica para compreender e tratar doenças da retina, o desenvolvimento da retina de vertebrados continua a funcionar como um sistema modelo importante e elegante para compreender a determinação de células neuronais do tipo e da diferenciação 1-16. A retina neural é composto por seis tipos de células discretas (gânglio, fotorreceptores amácrinas, horizontal, células bipolares e células gliais de Müller) dispostos em camadas estereotipados, um padrão que é largamente conservada entre todos os vertebrados 12,14-18. Enquanto estudava a retina no embrião intacto desenvolvimento é claramente necessária para a compreensão de como este órgão complexo desenvolve a partir de uma saliência do cérebro anterior em uma estrutura de camadas, há muitas questões que beneficiam from empregando abordagens utilizando cultura de células primária de presumíveis células da retina 7,19-23. Por exemplo, analisando as células a partir de tecidos removidos e dissociados em diferentes fases permite discernir o estado da especificação de células individuais, em diferentes fases de desenvolvimento, isto é, o destino das células na ausência de interacções com os tecidos vizinhos 8,19-22 ,24-33. Cultura primária de células também permite que o investigador para tratar a cultura com os reagentes específicos e analisar os resultados de um nível da célula individual 5,8,21,24,27-30,33-39. Xenopus laevis, um sistema modelo para o estudo clássico de desenvolvimento neural precoce 19,27,29,31-32,40-42, serve como um sistema particularmente adequado para a cultura de células da retina primário 10,38,43-45. Tecido da retina presuntivo é acessível desde as primeiras fases de desenvolvimento, imediatamente após a indução neural 25,38,43. Além disso, dada ªem cada célula no embrião contém uma fonte de gema de ovo, as células da retina pode ser cultivada em um meio muito simples definidos que consistem de uma solução salina tamponada, eliminando assim os efeitos de confusão de incubação ou outros produtos à base de soro 10,24,44-45 . No entanto, o isolamento do tecido da retina de tecidos circundantes e o processamento subsequente é um desafio. A seguir, apresentamos um processo para a dissecção e dissociação de células da retina em Xenopus laevis que serão utilizadas para preparar culturas de células primárias que, por sua vez, ser analisados ​​para a actividade de cálcio e a expressão do gene com a resolução de células simples. Embora o tema apresentado neste artigo é a análise de transientes de cálcio espontâneas, a técnica é amplamente aplicável a uma grande variedade de questões de pesquisa e abordagens (Figura 1).

Exemplos de sucesso dissecados vesículas óticas (etapa 25) e retina (etapa 35) são mostrados nas Figuras 2E e 2J. Embora este protocolo pode ser utilizado em várias fases de desenvolvimento, é essencial para se obter apenas o tecido da retina para garantir a precisão para outras experiências. Remova cuidadosamente a epiderme em todas as etapas e garantir que seus fórceps não perfurar o tecido da retina. Na fase de 35 anos ou mais, a lente pode ser vista como uma camada transparente sobre a reti...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Dissection, Culture, and Analysis of Xenopus laevis Embryonic Retinal Tissue at JoVE.com

Dissection, Culture, and Analysis of Xenopus laevis Embryonic Retinal Tissue

Xenopus laevis proporciona um sistema de modelo ideal para o estudo da especificação célula destino e função fisiológica de células individuais da retina em cultura celular primária. Aqui apresenta-se uma técnica para dissecar os tecidos da retina e geração de culturas de células primárias que têm imagem para a actividade de cálcio e analisados ​​por hibridação in situ.

Dissecção, Cultura, Análise e de<em&gt; Xenopus laevis</em&gt; Tecido embrionário da retina

The process by which  the anterior region of the neural plate gives rise to the vertebrate retina  continues to be a major focus of both clinical and ...

dissection-culture-analysis-xenopus-laevis-embryonic-retinal

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

Dissection, Culture, and Analysis of Xenopus laevis Embryonic Retinal Tissue

13.8K visualizações.  College of William and Mary. Xenopus laevis proporciona um sistema de modelo ideal para o estudo da especificação célula destino e função fisiológica de células individuais da retina em cultura celular primária. Aqui apresenta-se uma técnica para dissecar os tecidos da retina e geração de culturas de células primárias que têm imagem para a actividade de cálcio e analisados ​​por hibridação in situ.

Vídeo: Dissection, Culture, and Analysis of Xenopus laevis Embryonic Retinal Tissue

Dissection and Culture of Commissural Neurons from Embryonic Spinal Cord

Commissural neurons have been widely used to investigate the mechanisms underlying axon guidance during embryonic spinal cord development. The cell bodies of these neurons are located in the dorsal spinal cord and their axons follow stereotyped trajectories during embryonic development. Commissural axons initially project ventrally towards the floorplate. After crossing the midline, these axons turn anteriorly and project towards the brain. Each of these steps is regulated by the action of several guidance cues. Cultures highly enriched in commissural neurons are ideally suited for many experiments addressing the mechanisms of axon pathfinding, including turning assays, immunochemistry and biochemistry. Here, we describe a method to dissect and culture commissural neurons from E13 rat dorsal spinal cord. First, the spinal cord is isolated and dorsal strips are dissected out. The dorsal tissue is then dissociated into a cell suspension by trypsinization and mechanical disruption. Neurons are plated onto poly-L-lysine-coated glass coverslips or tissue-culture dishes. After 30 hours in vitro, most neurons have extended an axon. The purity of the culture (Yam et al. 2009), typically over 90%, can be assessed by immunolabeling with the commissural neuron markers DCC, LH2 and TAG1 (Helms and Johnson, 1998). This neuronal preparation is a useful tool for in vitro studies of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of commissural axon growth and guidance during spinal cord development.

This video demonstrates a method to dissect and culture commissural neurons from E13 rat dorsal spinal cord. Dissociated commissural neurons are useful to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms of axon growth and guidance.

Dissecção e Cultura de Neurônios da Medula Espinhal comissural embrionárias

Commissural neurons have been widely used to investigate the mechanisms underlying axon guidance during embryonic spinal cord development. The cell bodies ...

Neurociência

Nucleofection and Primary Culture of Embryonic Mouse Hippocampal and Cortical Neurons

Hippocampal and cortical neurons have been used extensively to study central nervous system (CNS) neuronal polarization, axon/dendrite outgrowth, and synapse formation and function. An advantage of culturing these neurons is that they readily polarize, forming distinctive axons and dendrites, on a two dimensional substrate at very low densities. This property has made them extremely useful for determining many aspects of neuronal development. Furthermore, by providing glial conditioning for these neurons they will continue to develop, forming functional synaptic connections and surviving for several months in culture. In this protocol we outline a technique to dissect, culture and transfect embryonic mouse hippocampal and cortical neurons. Transfection is accomplished by electroporating DNA into the neurons before plating via nucleofection. This protocol has the advantage of expressing fluorescently-tagged fusion proteins early in development (~4-8hrs after plating) to study the dynamics and function of proteins during polarization, axon outgrowth and branching. We have also discovered that this single transfection before plating maintains fluorescently-tagged fusion protein expression at levels appropriate for imaging throughout the lifetime of the neuron (&gt; 2 months in culture). Thus, this methodology is useful for studying protein localization and function throughout CNS development with little or no disruption of neuronal function.

This protocol outlines the steps required to dissect, transfect via electroporation and culture mouse hippocampal and cortical neurons. Short-term cultures may be used for studies of axon outgrowth and guidance, while long-term cultures can be used for studies of synaptogenesis and dendritic spine analysis.

Nucleofection e Cultura Primária de Neurônios do hipocampo do rato embrionárias e Cortical

Hippocampal and cortical neurons have been used extensively to study central nervous system (CNS) neuronal polarization, axon/dendrite outgrowth, and ...

Dissection of a Mouse Eye for a Whole Mount of the Retinal Pigment Epithelium

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) lies at the back of the mammalian eye, just under the neural retina, which contains the photoreceptors (rods and cones). The RPE is a monolayer of pigmented cuboidal cells and associates closely with the neural retina just above it. This association makes the RPE of great interest to researchers studying retinal diseases. The RPE is also the site of an in vivo assay of homology-directed DNA repair, the pun assay. The mouse eye is particularly difficult to dissect due to its small size (about 3.5mm in diameter) and its spherical shape. This article demonstrates in detail a procedure for dissection of the eye resulting in a whole mount of the RPE. In this procedure, we show how to work with, rather than against, the spherical structure of the eye. Briefly, the connective tissue, muscle, and optic nerve are removed from the back of the eye. Then, the cornea and lens are removed. Next, strategic cuts are made that result in significant flattening of the remaining tissue. Finally, the neural retina is gently lifted off, revealing an intact RPE, which is still attached to the underlying choroid and sclera. This whole mount can be used to perform the pun assay or for immunohistochemistry or immunofluorescent assessment of the RPE tissue.

A formal demonstration of the dissection of a mouse eye, resulting in a whole mount of the retinal pigment epithelium.

Dissecação de um olho do rato para um monte inteiro do epitélio pigmentar da retina

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) lies at the back of the mammalian eye, just under the neural retina, which contains the photoreceptors (rods and ...

Lectin-based Isolation and Culture of Mouse Embryonic Motoneurons

Spinal motoneurons develop towards postmitotic stages through early embryonic nervous system development and subsequently grow out dendrites and axons. Neuroepithelial cells of the neural tube that express Nkx6.1 are the unique precursor cells for spinal motoneurons1. Though postmitotic motoneurons move towards their final position and organize themselves into columns along the spinal tract2,3. More than 90% of all these differentiated and positioned motoneurons express the transcription factors Islet 1/2. They innervate the muscles of the limbs as well as those of the body and the inner organs. Among others, motoneurons typically express the high affinity receptors for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), the tropomyosin-related kinase B and C (TrkB, TrkC). They do not express the tropomyosin-related kinase A (TrkA)4. Beside the two high affinity receptors, motoneurons do express the low affinity neurotrophin receptor p75NTR. The p75NTR can bind all neurotrophins with similar but lower affinity to all neurotrophins than the high affinity receptors would bind the mature neurotrophins. Within the embryonic spinal cord, the p75NTR is exclusively expressed by the spinal motoneurons5. This has been used to develop motoneuron isolation techniques to purify the cells from the vast majority of surrounding cells6. Isolating motoneurons with the help of specific antibodies (panning) against the extracellular domains of p75NTR has turned out to be an expensive method as the amount of antibody used for a single experiment is high due to the size of the plate used for panning. A much more economical alternative is the use of lectin. Lectin has been shown to specifically bind to p75NTR as well7. The following method describes an alternative technique using wheat germ agglutinin for a preplating procedure instead of the p75NTR antibody. The lectin is an extremely inexpensive alternative to the p75NTR antibody and the purification grades using lectin are comparable to that of the p75NTR antibody. Motoneurons from the embryonic spinal cord can be isolated by this method, survive and grow out neurites.

An alternative way of isolating mouse embryonic motoneurons from the spinal cord is described. The method takes into account the fact that lectin can bind to the low affinity nerve growth factor receptor p75NTR. This lectin-based preplating allows a purification similar to that with a specific antibody against the p75NTR.

Lectina baseado em isolamento e cultura de motoneurônios embrionárias de rato

Spinal motoneurons develop towards postmitotic stages through early embryonic nervous system development and subsequently grow out dendrites and axons. ...

Isolation and Culture of Rat Embryonic Neural Cells: A Quick Protocol

We are describing a quick method to dissociate and culture hippocampal or cortical neurons from E15-17 rat embryos. The procedure can be applied successfully to the isolation of mouse and human primary neurons and neural progenitors. Dissociated neurons are maintained in serum-free medium up to several weeks. These cultures can be used for nucleofection, immunocytochemistry, nucleic acids preparation, as well as electrophysiology. Older neuronal cultures can also be transfected with a good efficiency rate by lentiviral transduction and, less efficiently, with calcium phosphate or lipid-based methods such as lipofectamine.

We describe a rapid methodology to isolate and culture hippocampal and cortical neurons from rodent embryos. This protocol allows us to perform experiments in which nearly pure neuronal cultures are required.

Isolamento e cultivo de células neurais embrionárias de ratos: um protocolo rápido

We are describing a quick method to dissociate and culture hippocampal or cortical neurons from E15-17 rat embryos. The procedure can be applied ...

Neural Explant Cultures from Xenopus laevis

The complex process of axon guidance is largely driven by the growth cone, which is the dynamic motile structure at the tip of the growing axon. During axon outgrowth, the growth cone must integrate multiple sources of guidance cue information to modulate its cytoskeleton in order to propel the growth cone forward and accurately navigate to find its specific targets1. How this integration occurs at the cytoskeletal level is still emerging, and examination of cytoskeletal protein and effector dynamics within the growth cone can allow the elucidation of these mechanisms. Xenopus laevis growth cones are large enough (10-30 microns in diameter) to perform high-resolution live imaging of cytoskeletal dynamics (e.g.2-4 ) and are easy to isolate and manipulate in a lab setting compared to other vertebrates. The frog is a classic model system for developmental neurobiology studies, and important early insights into growth cone microtubule dynamics were initially found using this system5-7 . In this method8, eggs are collected and fertilized in vitro, injected with RNA encoding fluorescently tagged cytoskeletal fusion proteins or other constructs to manipulate gene expression, and then allowed to develop to the neural tube stage. Neural tubes are isolated by dissection and then are cultured, and growth cones on outgrowing neurites are imaged. In this article, we describe how to perform this method, the goal of which is to culture Xenopus laevis growth cones for subsequent high-resolution image analysis. While we provide the example of +TIP fusion protein EB1-GFP, this method can be applied to any number of proteins to elucidate their behaviors within the growth cone.

Neural Explant Cultures from Xenopus laevis

Culturing neural explants from dissected Xenopus laevis embryos that express fluorescent fusion proteins allows for imaging of growth cone cytoskeletal dynamics.

Neurais culturas de explante de<em&gt; Xenopus laevis</em

The complex process of axon guidance is largely driven by the growth cone, which is the dynamic motile structure at the tip of the growing axon. During ...

Isolation and Culture of Endothelial Cells from the Embryonic Forebrain

Embryonic brain endothelial cells can serve as an important tool in the study of angiogenesis and neurovascular development and interactions. The two vascular networks of the embryonic forebrain, pial and periventricular, are spatially distinctive and have different origins and growth patterns. Endothelial cells from the pial and periventricular vascular networks have unique gene expression profiles and functions. Here we present a step-by-step protocol for isolation, culture, and verification of pure populations of endothelial cells from the periventricular vascular network (PVECs) of the embryonic forebrain (telencephalon). In this approach, telencephalon devoid of pial membrane obtained from embryonic day 15 mice is minced, digested with collagenase/dispase, and dispersed mechanically into a single cell suspension. PVECs are purified from cell suspension using positive selection with anti-CD-31/PECAM-1 antibody conjugated to MicroBeads using a strong magnetic separation method. Purified cells are cultured on collagen 1&#160;coated culture dishes in endothelial cell culture medium until they become confluent and further subcultured. PVECs obtained with this protocol exhibit cobblestone and spindle shaped phenotypes, as visualized by phase-contrast light microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. Purity of PVEC cultures was established with endothelial cell markers. In our hands, this method reliably and consistently yields pure populations of PVECs. This protocol will benefit studies aimed at gaining mechanistic insights into forebrain angiogenesis, understanding PVEC interactions, and cross-talks with neuronal cell types and holds tremendous potential for therapeutic angiogenesis.

This video demonstrates an easy and reliable strategy for preparation of pure cultures of endothelial cells from the embryonic forebrain within 10-12 days and will be useful for research focused on many aspects of cerebral angiogenesis.

Isolamento e cultura de células endoteliais da Embryonic posencéfalo

Embryonic brain endothelial cells can serve as an important tool in the study of angiogenesis and neurovascular development and interactions. The two ...

A Simple Behavioral Assay for Testing Visual Function in Xenopus laevis

Measurement of the visual function in the tadpoles of the frog, Xenopus laevis, allows screening for blindness in live animals. The optokinetic response is a vision-based, reflexive behavior that has been observed in all vertebrates tested. Tadpole eyes are small so the tail flip response was used as alternative measure, which requires a trained technician to record the subtle response. We developed an alternative behavior assay based on the fact that tadpoles prefer to swim on the white side of a tank when placed in a tank with both black and white sides. The assay presented here is an inexpensive, simple alternative that creates a response that is easily measured. The setup consists of a tripod, webcam and nested testing tanks, readily available in most Xenopus laboratories. This article includes a movie showing the behavior of tadpoles, before and after severing the optic nerve. In order to test the function of one eye, we also include representative results of a tadpole in which each eye underwent retinal axotomy on consecutive days. Future studies could develop an automated version of this assay for testing the vision of many tadpoles at once.

A Simple Behavioral Assay for Testing Visual Function in Xenopus laevis

Xenopus laevis tadpoles prefer swimming on the white side of a black/white tank. This behavior is guided by their vision. Based on this behavior, we present a simple assay to test the visual function of tadpoles.

Um Ensaio Comportamental simples para Teste de Função Visual em<em&gt; Xenopus laevis</em

Measurement of the visual function in the tadpoles of the frog, Xenopus laevis, allows screening for blindness in live animals. The optokinetic response ...

Recording Temperature-induced Neuronal Activity through Monitoring Calcium Changes in the Olfactory Bulb of Xenopus laevis

The olfactory system, specialized in the detection, integration and processing of chemical molecules is likely the most thoroughly studied sensory system. However, there is piling evidence that olfaction is not solely limited to chemical sensitivity, but also includes temperature sensitivity. Premetamorphic Xenopus laevis are translucent animals, with protruding nasal cavities deprived of the cribriform plate separating the nose and the olfactory bulb. These characteristics make them well suited for studying olfaction, and particularly thermosensitivity. The present article describes the complete procedure for measuring temperature responses in the olfactory bulb of X. laevis larvae. Firstly, the electroporation of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) is performed with spectrally distinct dyes loaded into the nasal cavities in order to stain their axon terminals in the bulbar neuropil. The differential staining between left and right receptor neurons serves to identify the &#947;-glomerulus as the only structure innervated by contralateral presynaptic afferents. Secondly, the electroporation is combined with focal bolus loading in the olfactory bulb in order to stain mitral cells and their dendrites. The 3D brain volume is then scanned under line-illumination microscopy for the acquisition of fast calcium imaging data while small temperature drops are induced at the olfactory epithelium. Lastly, the post-acquisition analysis allows the morphological reconstruction of the thermosensitive network comprising the &#947;-glomerulus and its innervating mitral cells, based on specific temperature-induced Ca2+ traces. Using chemical odorants as stimuli in addition to temperature jumps enables the comparison between thermosensitive and chemosensitive networks in the olfactory bulb.

Recording Temperature-induced Neuronal Activity through Monitoring Calcium Changes in the Olfactory Bulb of Xenopus laevis

Here we describe a protocol for measuring and analyzing temperature responses in the olfactory bulb of Xenopus laevis. Olfactory receptor neurons and mitral cells are differentially stained, after which calcium changes are recorded, reflecting a sensitivity of some neural networks in the bulb to temperature drops induced at the nose.

Gravação induzida pela temperatura actividade neuronal através de monitoramento das alterações de cálcio no bulbo olfativo de<em&gt; Xenopus laevis</em

The olfactory system, specialized in the detection, integration and processing of chemical molecules is likely the most thoroughly studied sensory system. ...

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

The Xenopus tadpole retinotectal circuit, comprised of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the eye which form synapses directly onto neurons in the optic tectum, is a popular model to study how neural circuits self-assemble. The ability to carry out whole cell patch clamp recordings from tectal neurons and to record RGC-evoked responses, either in vivo or using a whole brain preparation, has generated a large body of high-resolution data about the mechanisms underlying normal, and abnormal, circuit formation and function. Here we describe how to perform the in vivo preparation, the original whole brain preparation, and a more recently developed horizontal brain slice preparation for obtaining whole cell patch clamp recordings from tectal neurons. Each preparation has unique experimental advantages. The in vivo preparation enables the recording of the direct response of tectal neurons to visual stimuli projected onto the eye. The whole brain preparation allows for the RGC axons to be activated in a highly controlled manner, and the horizontal brain slice preparation allows recording from across all layers of the tectum.

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

In this paper, we discuss three brain preparations used for whole cell patch clamp recording to study the retinotectal circuit of Xenopus laevis tadpoles. Each preparation, with its own specific advantages, contributes to the experimental tractability of the Xenopus tadpole as a model to study neural circuit function.

Preparações e protocolos para toda célula Patch Clamp gravação de neurônios Tectal Xenopus laevis

The Xenopus tadpole retinotectal circuit, comprised of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the eye which form synapses directly onto neurons in the optic ...