This work was funded by grants from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (RG4179 to A.N.), the National Institutes of Health (NIH R01NS073425 and R01NS074870 to A.N.) and the National Science Foundation (A.N.). We thank Dr. Frank Kirchhoff (University of Saarland, Homburg Germany) for providing PLPDsRed transgenic mice. We thank Youfen Sun for her assistance in maintaining the transgenic mouse colony.

NOTA: Todos os procedimentos com animais está seguindo as diretrizes e foram aprovados pelo Comitê de Uso e Cuidado Animal Institucional (IACUC) da Universidade de Connecticut. NOTA: Para estas experiências constitutivas NG2cre 18 (JAX # 008533) e induzível NG2creER 16 (JAX # 008538) camundongos transgênicos cruzou para Z / EG 19 (JAX # 003920) ou gtRosa26: YFP repórter 20 (JAX # 006148) linhas, respectivamente, foram utilizados a imagem células NG2 e seus descendentes. Para imagem oligodendrócitos maduros, foram utilizados PLPDsRed camundongos transgênicos 21. Para a sobrevivência consistente, as fatias pode ser isolado a partir de murganhos de até 10 dias pós-natal de ambos o cérebro anterior e do cerebelo. 1 fatia Preparação <ol><li> Em uma capa de cultura, colocar inserções de cultura de tecidos em seis poços e adicionar 1 ml fatia meio de cultura (receita na seção de reagentes). Colocar as placas na incubadora de cultura de células a 37 ° C com 5% de CO 2, pelo menos, 2 horas antes da dissecação. </li><li> Esterilizar todas as ferramentas e cortador de tecidos com 70% de etanol. </li><li> Tampão bolha dissecção (receita na secção reagentes) com 95% de O2, 5% de CO 2 em gelo durante pelo menos 15 minutos antes do início da dissecção. </li><li> Anestesiar filhotes de rato, colocando-se em gelo durante 5-10 minutos de acordo com os protocolos aprovados animais. Determinar a profundidade adequada de anestesia, confirmando que os ratos não respondem a cauda e pés beliscar. </li><li> Decapitar os animais utilizando uma tesoura afiada seguintes protocolos animais. Remover rapidamente o crânio sobre o cérebro anterior e do cerebelo fazendo primeiro um corte sagital seguido de incisão lateral, usando ferramentas esterilizados. Cortar nervos cranianos a partir da superfície ventral do cérebro e cerebelo com cuidado rolando o tecido para o lado. </li><li> Colocar o tecido de uma estéril prato de 35 mM contendo tampão de dissecção oxigenado gelado. </li><li> Usando uma lâmina de barbear, cortar o cerebelo eo cérebro anterior. Em seguida, faça um corte médio-sagital throurg o cérebro anterior e do cerebelo, separando os hemisférios. </li><li> Corte 300 m de espessura secções coronal e sagital do cérebro anterior e cerebelo com um cortador de tecidos manual. NOTA: Um cortador de tecidos manual permite o processamento rápido de dissecção de incubação da cultura, sem a necessidade de incorporação de agarose. Um vibratome também pode ser utilizado como descrito anteriormente 9. </li><li> Transferir fatias separadas em tampão de dissecção frio recém borbulhar em gelo. </li><li> Use pequena dissecação ou pesando espátulas para separar seções individuais e transferi-los para pré-incubados seis pratos bem com inserções de cultura. </li><li> Remover qualquer excesso de tampão de dissecção a partir da superfície da lâmina de cultura, utilizando uma pipeta de transferência descartável ou uma ponta de pipeta P 200. Dois a três prosencéfalo ou três fatias de cerebelo podem ser colocados em uma inserção de cultura. NOTA: Para obter resultados consistentes com as culturas do cérebro anterior, é ideal para tomar fatias que mede o anterior de um terço do corpo caloso(Figura 1A), a fim de estudar as duas regiões de substância cinzenta e branca na mesma fatia. Cada animal geralmente produz seis fatias do cérebro anterior e seis fatias do cerebelo. </li><li> Coloque as placas de seis poços na incubadora e substituir o meio fatia com 1 ml de meio de fatia 1 dia após a preparação fatia e, em seguida, a cada dois dias até que a fixação fatia. </li><li> Dependendo da experiência, utilizam fatias após 5-7 dias em cultura. Use somente as fatias que se tornam transparentes após os primeiros dias e descartar aqueles que possuem regiões opacas irregulares. NOTA: regiões opacas dentro fatias são visíveis a olho nu e aparecer como um aglomerado de células escuras sob contraste de fase. Após a técnica foi dominada, fatias opacos mortas ocorrem raramente, em menos de 1-5% de fatias. </li></ol> 2 Time-Lapse Imagem de NG2 divisão celular e diferenciação Oligodendrocyte NOTA: Para executar time lapse imagem da proliferação das células NG2 e diferenciação usamos NG2cre: ZEG camundongos 16que expressam GFP em células NG2 e seus descendentes (Figura 1C-E). Expressão Reporter nesta linha é suficientemente robusto para obter imagens ao vivo de GFP + células em fatias imediatamente após o corte por um período de tempo de pelo menos quatro semanas. As imagens são obtidas mais claras após o período inicial de desbaste da fatia, o qual ocorre durante os primeiros 3-5 dias de cultura. <ol><li> Durante toda a experiência, manter as fatias numa incubadora de cultura de células a 37 ° C e remover apenas por breves períodos de tempo (inferior a 15 min por fatia), mantendo-se a tampa sobre a seis poços enquanto a imagem. </li><li> Usando um microscópio de fluorescência invertido equipado com uma câmera digital, capturar imagens no primeiro ponto de tempo usando uma objetiva de 10X. NOTA: Os pontos da primeira vez vai variar de acordo com experiência e pode ser o dia em que os cortes foram preparados ou qualquer ponto após o tempo. </li><li> Capturar imagens de várias regiões no ponto de um tempo em ambas as áreas de matéria cinzenta e branca da fatia. ª Notae região fotografada por marcos específicos dentro da fatia e mapeando a localização da imagem em um esquema que pode ser utilizado para sessões de imagem subseqüentes. Marcos úteis podem incluir bordas das fatias e / ou orientação de tratos de substância branca. Imagem 4-8 locais de cada fatia em cada ponto de tempo. </li><li> Capturar imagens subseqüentes com um intervalo de 4-6 horas se examinar a divisão celular NG2 e diferenciação de oligodendrócitos, idealmente mais de 5-7 dias. </li><li> Capturar uma imagem final de todas as regiões e corrigir as fatias imediatamente. Adicionar 1 ml de fixador (4% PFA com 0,1 M L-lisina de meta-periodato de sódio 0,01 M) para a parte inferior da inserção de cultura e, em seguida adicionar mais 1 ml por cima das fatias. Tome cuidado para não esguichar o fixador diretamente na fatia como ela pode desprender da membrana. Fixe o tecido por 30 min e prosseguir com imuno-histoquímica utilizando marcadores específicos do estágio de desenvolvimento como descrito na seção 4. </li><li> Fatias de lavagem com tampão de fosfato de sódio 0,2 M 3 x 10 m. Se necessário, as fatias armazenar a 4 ° C em tampão fosfato de sódio 0,2 M durante 1-3 dias antes da coloração imunológica mas idealmente realização da coloração dentro de 24 horas. Prossiga com imuno-histoquímica, como descrito abaixo na seção 4 para determinar a proporção de células que diferenciam em oligodendrócitos (Figura 2D-F). </li></ol> 3. Destino Mapeamento de NG2 Progênie celular usando Inducible Reporter ratos transgênicos em culturas fatia NOTA: Para rastrear o destino das células NG2 de um momento em particular na cultura, NG2creER indutíveis: ratinhos transgénicos YFP pode ser utilizado. <ol><li> Induzir a recombinação Cre e expressão repórter pela adição de 100 nM 4OHT dissolvido em etanol ao meio de cultura. NOTA: As células positivas repórter deve aparecer dentro de 1-2 dias de indução com uma eficiência de 20-25% de células ~ YFP NG2 + + / NG2 + e neste ponto todo o tempo será células na fase de célula NG2 (Figura 2A-C) </li><li> Fix e lavar a fatias em diferentes pontos de tempo após várias manipulações (descrita nas secções 2.5 e 2.6). </li></ol> 4 Slice Imunohistoquímica <ol><li> Corte as membranas com as fatias ligados fora das inserções, utilizando um bisturi. </li><li> Transferir fatias para poços individuais de uma placa de 24 poços de solução salina contendo fosfato tamponada (PBS), utilizando um conjunto de pinças, tendo o cuidado de não perturbar a composição da fatia aquando do levantamento da membrana. </li><li> Transferir as fatias para uma placa de 24 poços com uma solução contendo 5% de soro de cabra normal (NGS) e 0,1% de Triton-X100 em PBS durante 1 hr a bloquear. </li><li> Incubar as fatias em anticorpo primário S / N em 5% de NGS em PBS a 4 ° C. Para identificação de células na fase de célula NG2, utilizar anticorpos para NG2 e PDGFRα. Para identificar os oligodendrócitos diferenciadas, utilizar um anticorpo para o antigénio da polipose adenomatosa coli (APC; clone CC1). </li><li> No segundo dia de fatias de lavagem em PBS 3 x 15 min, em seguida, incuba-se Antibo secundáriomorre em 5% de NGS em PBS durante 1 h à TA. Lave as fatias em PBS 3 x15 min e montagem em lâminas. Montar com fatias para cima e membrana de frente para o slide para que a membrana não será entre o objetivo eo tecido. </li></ol>

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D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Adenosine:+a+neuron-glial+transmitter+promoting+myelination+in+the+CNS+in+response+to+action+potentials.">Adenosine: a neuron-glial transmitter promoting myelination in the CNS in response to action potentials.</a> Neuron. 36 (5), 855-868 (2002).</li><li>Wake, H., Lee, P. R., Fields, R. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Control+of+local+protein+synthesis+and+initial+events+in+myelination+by+action+potentials.">Control of local protein synthesis and initial events in myelination by action potentials.</a> Science. 333 (6049), 1647-1651 (2011).</li><li>Rosenberg, S. S., Kelland, E. E., Tokar, E., De la Torre, A. R., Chan, J. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+geometric+and+spatial+constraints+of+the+microenvironment+induce+oligodendrocyte+differentiation.">The geometric and spatial constraints of the microenvironment induce oligodendrocyte differentiation.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 105 (38), 14662-14667 (2008).</li></ol>

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests

Mielinização no sistema nervoso central é essencial para a comunicação neuronal e sobrevivência eficiente axonal 22. Células NG2 gerar continuamente oligodendrócitos myelinating para a idade adulta, mantendo uma população residente na maioria das regiões do cérebro 16,23 - 25. Alguns mecanismos genéticos e moleculares que regulam a diferenciação destas células foram descritas, mas ainda há muito a ser descoberto. Culturas fatia organotï¿½icas são uma ferramenta conveniente para...

Culturas fatia Organoytpic do sistema nervoso central têm provado ser extremamente útil para o estudo do neurônio e da biologia de células gliais em um sistema semiintact 1-4. Estas culturas são relativamente simples de adoptar e reter muitos benefícios de culturas dissociadas de células primárias, tal como a manipulação do ambiente extracelular e de fácil acesso para a imagem de células vivas repetida a longo prazo e registos electrofisiolicos 5-9. Além disso, as culturas de fatias manter citoarquitetura tecido 3-dimensional, conectividade neuronal regional, e a maioria dos tipos de células principais estão presentes no sistema. Estas propriedades fazem essas culturas um sistema único e conveniente para investigar o comportamento de uma única célula e fisiologia com interações celulares e ambientais. NG2 células são uma população de células da glia do sistema nervoso central dos mamíferos que continuam a proliferar e gerar myelinating oligodendrócitos durante embrionário e pós-natal de desenvolvimento 10. Eles têm sido extensivamente estudados em culturas de células primárias dissociadas, e o desenvolvimento recente de linhas de ratinhos transgénicos com expressão específica para células NG2 de proteínas fluorescentes em facilitou o mapeamento destino in vivo e registos electrofisiolicos em preparações de fatias agudas. Mesmo com esses estudos, pouco se sabe sobre a dinâmica da proliferação de células NG2 e diferenciação de oligodendrócitos. Embora a cultura de células dissociadas é amplamente utilizado para a relativa facilidade em manipulações farmacológicas e genéticas, que não é adequado para a interrogação diferenças funcionais destas células em diferentes regiões cerebrais particularmente quando é desejável manter o contexto do microambiente celular. Culturas de fatias proporcionar uma alternativa simples, que é passível de manipulações farmacológicas e têm sido utilizados para investigar a mielinização 11,12 oligodendrócitos, célulaular resposta após lisolecitina (LPC) ou anticorpo desmielinização 13,14, e indução de remielinização por meio do tratamento farmacológico 15. Um método para investigar e realizar imagem ao vivo e tecido fixo (ou postfixation) análise da proliferação celular e diferenciação NG2 oligodendrócitos em culturas organotípicas de fatias retiradas quer do cérebro anterior e do cerebelo é descrito. Este é um método poderoso que pode ser utilizado para estudar o destino da célula de células NG2 individuais após divisão 16 e para descobrir diferenças região-e dependente da idade, do factor de crescimento NG2 induzida a proliferação de células 17. Esta técnica relativamente simples é amplamente acessível para investigar celular intrínseca e / ou ambiental mecanismos que regulam a fisiologia destas células gliais e sua resposta à atividade neuronal ou danos mielina.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Slice Culture Medium</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Minimum Essential Medium</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>11090</td>
			<td>50%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hank&#8217;s Balanced Salt Solution</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>14175</td>
			<td>25%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HEPES</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>H-4034</td>
			<td>25mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>L-Glutamine</td>
			<td>Invitrogen</td>
			<td>25030</td>
			<td>1mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Insulin</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>I6634</td>
			<td>1mg/L</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ascorbic Acid</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A-0278</td>
			<td>0.4mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Horse Serum</td>
			<td>Hyclone</td>
			<td>SH30074.03</td>
			<td>25%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Titrate to pH 7.22 with NaOH, filter with bottle top filter, and store at 4 degrees Celsius</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Dissection Buffer</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NaCl</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>S3014</td>
			<td>124mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KCl</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>P5405</td>
			<td>3.004mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KH2PO4</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>P5655</td>
			<td>1.25mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MgSO4 (anhydrous)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>M7506</td>
			<td>4.004mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CaCl2 2H2O</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>C7902</td>
			<td>2mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NaHCO3</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>S5761</td>
			<td>26mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>D-(+)-Glucose</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>G7021</td>
			<td>10mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ascorbic Acid</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A-0278</td>
			<td>2.0mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Adenosine</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>A4036</td>
			<td>0.075mM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Filter with bottle top filter and store at 4 degrees Celsius, oxygenate with 95%O2 5%CO2 before use</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>Other Reagents and Supplies</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>4-hydroxy tamoxifen (4OHT)</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>H7904</td>
			<td>100nM</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Paraformaldehyde (PFA)</td>
			<td>EM Sciences</td>
			<td>19200</td>
			<td>4%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>L-Lysine</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>L-6027</td>
			<td>0.1M</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sodium Metaperiodate</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>S-1878</td>
			<td>0.01M</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rabbit anti NG2 antibody</td>
			<td>Chemicon (Millipore)</td>
			<td>AB5320</td>
			<td>1:500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mouse anti CC1 antibody</td>
			<td>Calbiochem (Millipore)</td>
			<td>OP80</td>
			<td>1:200</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mouse anti Ki67 antibody</td>
			<td>Vision Biosystems</td>
			<td>NCL-Ki67-MM1</td>
			<td>1:300</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mouse anti NeuN antibody</td>
			<td>Chemicon (Millipore)</td>
			<td>MAB377</td>
			<td>1:500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Species specific secondary antibodies</td>
			<td>Jackson Immunoresearch</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Normal Goat Serum (NGS)</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>5%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton X-100</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td>0.10%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Mounting medium with DAPI</td>
			<td>Vector Labs</td>
			<td>H-1200</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Millicell culture membrane inserts 0.45&#956;m pore size</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>PICM03050</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bottle top filters</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>09-740-25E</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethanol</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>95% O2 5% CO2 gas mix</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS)</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sterile six well plates</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dissecting (hippocampal) or weighing spatulas</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Manual or automatic tissue chopper</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Razor blades</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Disposable transfer pipettes</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>35mm and 60mm sterile Petri dishes</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stereomicroscope</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Inverted Phase Microscope</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Laminar Flow Hood</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tissue Culture Incubator</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Inverted Fluorescence Microcope</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

organotypic slice cultures to study oligodendrocyte dynamics and myelination

As células que expressam NG2 (polydendrocytes, células precursoras de oligodendrócitos) são a quarta maior população de células da glia do sistema nervoso central. Durante o desenvolvimento embrionário e pós-natal eles ativamente proliferar e gerar oligodendrócitos myelinating. Estas células têm sido vulgarmente estudada em culturas dissociadas de neurónios primárias, co-culturas, e em tecido fixado. Utilizando linhas de ratinhos transgénicos fatia recentemente disponíveis sistemas de cultura pode ser utilizado para investigar a proliferação e diferenciação de células da linhagem de oligodendrócitos em ambas as regiões de matéria cinzenta e branca do cérebro anterior e do cerebelo. Culturas de fatias são preparadas a partir de ratos pós-natais precoces e são mantidas em cultura durante 1 mês. Estas fatias podem ser fotografada várias vezes ao longo do período de cultura para investigar o comportamento celular e interações. Este método permite a visualização de divisão celular NG2 e os passos que levam à diferenciação de oligodendrócitos, enquanto permitindo uma análise detalhada da região, dependement células NG2 e oligodendrócitos heterogeneidade funcional. Esta é uma técnica poderosa que pode ser utilizada para investigar os sinais intrínsecas e extrínsecas que influenciam estas células ao longo do tempo em um ambiente celular que se assemelha ao que se encontra in vivo.

Exemplos de dados representativos são dadas abaixo que foram obtidos utilizando culturas fatia de ambos parte frontal do cérebro e cerebelo de P8 NG2cre: ZEG, NG2creER: YFP e PLPDsRed linhas de camundongos transgênicos. Células NG2 pode ser trabalhada ao longo de dias em fatias do cérebro anterior e cerebelo (Figura 1B-D, Vídeo 1) e o fenótipo destas células pode ser determinado após fixação e coloração imunológica com anticorpos NG2 e CC1 (Figura 1E). Além de viver de im...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Organotypic Slice Cultures to Study Oligodendrocyte Dynamics and Myelination at JoVE.com

Organotypic Slice Cultures to Study Oligodendrocyte Dynamics and Myelination

A technique to study NG2 cells and oligodendrocytes using a slice culture system of the forebrain and cerebellum is described. This method allows examination of the dynamics of proliferation and differentiation of cells within the oligodendrocyte lineage where the extracellular environment can be easily manipulated while maintaining tissue cytoarchitecture.

Culturas Organotípicas fatia para Estudar Oligodendrocyte Dynamics e Myelination

NG2 expressing cells (polydendrocytes, oligodendrocyte precursor cells) are the fourth major glial cell population in the central nervous system. During ...

organotypic-slice-cultures-to-study-oligodendrocyte-dynamics

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

18.2K visualizações.  University of Connecticut. A technique to study NG2 cells and oligodendrocytes using a slice culture system of the forebrain and cerebellum is described. This method allows examination of the dynamics of proliferation and differentiation of cells within the oligodendrocyte lineage where the extracellular environment can be easily manipulated while maintaining tissue cytoarchitecture.

Vídeo: Organotypic Slice Cultures to Study Oligodendrocyte Dynamics and Myelination

The Organotypic Hippocampal Slice Culture Model for Examining Neuronal Injury

Organotypic hippocampal slice culture is an in vitro method to examine mechanisms of neuronal injury in which the basic architecture and composition of the hippocampus is relatively preserved 1. The organotypic culture system allows for the examination of neuronal, astrocytic and microglial effects, but as an ex vivo preparation, does not address effects of blood flow, or recruitment of peripheral inflammatory cells. To that end, this culture method is frequently used to examine excitotoxic and hypoxic injury to pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus, but has also been used to examine the inflammatory response. Herein we describe the methods for generating hippocampal slice cultures from postnatal rodent brain, administering toxic stimuli to induce neuronal injury, and assaying and quantifying hippocampal neuronal death.

The organoptypic hippocampal slice culture model is an in vitro model used to examine neuronal injury in a variety of paradigms. In this article, we describe the methods for generating slice cultures and quantifying neuronal injury.

O modelo de Cultura organotípicas Hippocampal Slice para o exame das lesões neuronais

Organotypic hippocampal slice culture is an in vitro method to examine mechanisms of neuronal injury in which the basic architecture and composition of ...

Neurociência

Organotypic Hippocampal Slice Cultures

The hippocampus, a component of the limbic system, plays important roles in long-term memory and spatial navigation 1. Hippocampal neurons can modify the strength of their connections after brief periods of strong activation. This phenomenon, known as long-term potentiation (LTP) can last for hours or days and has become the best candidate mechanism for learning and memory 2. In addition, the well defined anatomy and connectivity of the hippocampus 3 has made it a classical model system to study synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity4.
As our understanding of the physiology of hippocampal synapses grew and molecular players became identified, a need to manipulate synaptic proteins became imperative. Organotypic hippocampal cultures offer the possibility for easy gene manipulation and precise pharmacological intervention but maintain synaptic organization that is critical to understanding synapse function in a more naturalistic context than routine culture dissociated neurons methods.
Here we present a method to prepare and culture hippocampal slices that can be easily adapted to other brain regions. This method allows easy access to the slices for genetic manipulation using different approaches like viral infection 5,6 or biolistics 7. In addition, slices can be easily recovered for biochemical assays 8, or transferred to microscopes for imaging 9 or electrophysiological experiments 10.

We describe a method to prepare organotypic hippocampal slices that can be easily adapted to other brain regions. Brain slices are laid on porous membranes and culture media is allowed to form an interface. This method preserves the gross architecture of the hippocampus for up to 2 weeks in culture.

Organotípicas Hippocampal Culturas Slice

The hippocampus, a component of the limbic system, plays important roles in long-term memory and spatial navigation 1. Hippocampal neurons can modify the ...

Organotypic Cerebellar Cultures: Apoptotic Challenges and Detection

Organotypic cultures of neuronal tissue were first introduced by Hogue in 1947 1,2 and have constituted a major breakthrough in the field of neuroscience. Since then, the technique was developed further and currently there are many different ways to prepare organotypic cultures. The method presented here was adapted from the one described by Stoppini et al. for the preparation of the slices and from Gogolla et al. for the staining procedure 3,4.
A unique feature of this technique is that it allows you to study different parts of the brain such as hippocampus or cerebellum in their original structure, providing a big advantage over dissociated cultures in which all the cellular organization and neuronal networks are disrupted. In the case of the cerebellum it is even more advantageous because it allows the study of Purkinje cells, extremely difficult to obtain as dissociated primary culture. This method can be used to study certain developmental features of the cerebellum in vitro, as well as for electrophysiological and pharmacological experiments in both wild type and mutant mice.
The method described here was designed to study the effect of apoptotic stimuli such as Fas ligand in the developing cerebellum, using TUNEL staining to measure apoptotic cell death. If TUNEL staining is combined with cell type specific markers, such as Calbindin for Purkinje cells, it is possible to evaluate cell death in a cell population specific manner. The Calbindin staining also serves the purpose of evaluating the quality of the cerebellar cultures.

This method describes the generation of organotypic cerebellar cultures and the effect of certain apoptotic stimuli on the viability of different cerebellar cell types.

Organotípicas Culturas Cerebelar: Desafios Apoptotic e Detecção

Organotypic cultures of neuronal tissue were first introduced by Hogue in 1947 1,2 and have constituted a major breakthrough in the field of neuroscience. ...

Whole Cell Recording from an Organotypic Slice Preparation of Neocortex

We have been studying the expression and functional roles of voltage-gated potassium channels in pyramidal neurons from rat neocortex. Because of the lack of specific pharmacological agents for these channels, we have taken a genetic approach to manipulating channel expression. We use an organotypic culture preparation (16) in order to maintain cell morphology and the laminar pattern of cortex. We typically isolate acute neocortical slices at postnatal days 8-10 and maintain the slices in culture for 3-7 days. This allows us to study neurons at a similar age to those in our work with acute slices and minimizes the development of exuberant excitatory connections in the slice. We record from visually-identified pyramidal neurons in layers II/III or V using infrared illumination (IR-) and differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC) with whole cell patch clamp in current- or voltage-clamp. We use biolistic (Gene gun) transfection of wild type or mutant potassium channel DNA to manipulate expression of the channels to study their function. The transfected cells are easily identified by epifluorescence microscopy after co-transfection with cDNA for green fluorescent protein (GFP). We compare recordings of transfected cells to adjacent, untransfected neurons in the same layer from the same slice.

This is a protocol to prepare and maintain a neocortical slice preparation in organotypic culture for the purpose of making electrical recordings from pyramidal neurons.

Gravação de células inteiras a partir de uma preparação Slice organotípicas de Neocortex

We have been studying the expression and functional roles of voltage-gated potassium channels in pyramidal neurons from rat neocortex.  Because of the ...

Multi-electrode Array Recordings of Neuronal Avalanches in Organotypic Cultures

The cortex is spontaneously active, even in the absence of any particular input or motor output. During development, this activity is important for the migration and differentiation of cortex cell types and the formation of neuronal connections1. In the mature animal, ongoing activity reflects the past and the present state of an animal into which sensory stimuli are seamlessly integrated to compute future actions. Thus, a clear understanding of the organization of ongoing i.e. spontaneous activity is a prerequisite to understand cortex function. 
Numerous recording techniques revealed that ongoing activity in cortex is comprised of many neurons whose individual activities transiently sum to larger events that can be detected in the local field potential (LFP) with extracellular microelectrodes, or in the electroencephalogram (EEG), the magnetoencephalogram (MEG), and the BOLD signal from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The LFP is currently the method of choice when studying neuronal population activity with high temporal and spatial resolution at the mesoscopic scale (several thousands of neurons). At the extracellular microelectrode, locally synchronized activities of spatially neighbored neurons result in rapid deflections in the LFP up to several hundreds of microvolts. When using an array of microelectrodes, the organizations of such deflections can be conveniently monitored in space and time. 
Neuronal avalanches describe the scale-invariant spatiotemporal organization of ongoing neuronal activity in the brain2,3. They are specific to the superficial layers of cortex as established in vitro4,5, in vivo in the anesthetized rat 6, and in the awake monkey7. Importantly, both theoretical and empirical studies2,8-10 suggest that neuronal avalanches indicate an exquisitely balanced critical state dynamics of cortex that optimizes information transfer and information processing.
In order to study the mechanisms of neuronal avalanche development, maintenance, and regulation, in vitro preparations are highly beneficial, as they allow for stable recordings of avalanche activity under precisely controlled conditions. The current protocol describes how to study neuronal avalanches in vitro by taking advantage of superficial layer development in organotypic cortex cultures, i.e. slice cultures, grown on planar, integrated microelectrode arrays (MEA; see also 11-14).

A robust way to study neuronal avalanches, i.e. scale-invariant spatio-temporal activity bursts, indicative of critical state dynamics in cortex. Avalanches emerge spontaneously in developing superficial layers of cultured cortex which allows for long-term measurements of the activity with planar integrated multi-electrode arrays (MEA) under precisely controlled conditions.

Multieletrodos Recordings Array of Avalanches Neuronal em culturas organotípicas

The cortex is spontaneously active, even in the absence of any particular input or motor output.  During development, this activity is important for the ...

Derivation of Enriched Oligodendrocyte Cultures and Oligodendrocyte/Neuron Myelinating Co-cultures from Post-natal Murine Tissues

Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying OL development is not only critical to furthering our knowledge of OL biology, but also has implications for understanding the pathogenesis of demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Cellular development is commonly studied with primary cell culture models. Primary cell culture facilitates the evaluation of a given cell type by providing a controlled environment, free of the extraneous variables that are present in vivo. While OL cultures derived from rats have provided a vast amount of insight into OL biology, similar efforts at establishing OL cultures from mice has been met with major obstacles. Developing methods to culture murine primary OLs is imperative in order to take advantage of the available transgenic mouse lines. 
Multiple methods for extraction of OPCs from rodent tissue have been described, ranging from neurosphere derivation, differential adhesion purification and immunopurification 1-3. While many methods offer success, most require extensive culture times and/or costly equipment/reagents. To circumvent this, purifying OPCs from murine tissue with an adaptation of the method originally described by McCarthy &amp; 
de Vellis 2 is preferred. This method involves physically separating OPCs from a mixed glial culture derived from neonatal rodent cortices. The result is a purified OPC population that can be differentiated into an OL-enriched culture. This approach is appealing due to its relatively short culture time and the unnecessary requirement for growth factors or immunopanning antibodies. 
While exploring the mechanisms of OL development in a purified culture is informative, it does not provide the most physiologically relevant environment for assessing myelin sheath formation. Co-culturing OLs with neurons would lend insight into the molecular underpinnings regulating OL-mediated myelination of axons. For many OL/neuron co-culture studies, dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRGNs) have proven to be the neuron type of choice. They are ideal for co-culture with OLs due to their ease of extraction, minimal amount of contaminating cells, and formation of dense neurite beds. While studies using rat/mouse myelinating xenocultures have been published 4-6, a method for the derivation of such OL/DRGN myelinating co-cultures from post-natal murine tissue has not been described. Here we present detailed methods on how to effectively produce such cultures, along with examples of expected results. These methods are useful for addressing questions relevant to OL development/myelinating function, and are useful tools in the field of neuroscience.

This article describes methods to derive enriched populations of murine oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in primary culture, which differentiate to produce mature oligodendrocytes (OLs). In addition, this report describes techniques to produce murine myelinating co-cultures by seeding mouse OPCs onto a neurite bed of mouse dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRGNs).

Derivação de Enriquecido Culturas oligodendroglial e Neuron / oligodendroglial Myelinating Co-culturas de tecidos pós-natais murino

Identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying OL development is not only critical to furthering our knowledge of OL biology, but also has implications ...

Organotypic Slice Cultures of Embryonic Ventral Midbrain: A System to Study Dopaminergic Neuronal Development in vitro

The mouse is an excellent model organism to study mammalian brain development due to the abundance of molecular and genetic data. However, the developing mouse brain is not suitable for easy manipulation and imaging in vivo since the mouse embryo is inaccessible and opaque. Organotypic slice cultures of embryonic brains are therefore widely used to study murine brain development in vitro. Ex-vivo manipulation or the use of transgenic mice allows the modification of gene expression so that subpopulations of neuronal or glial cells can be labeled with fluorescent proteins. The behavior of labeled cells can then be observed using time-lapse imaging. Time-lapse imaging has been particularly successful for studying cell behaviors that underlie the development of the cerebral cortex at late embryonic stages 1-2. Embryonic organotypic slice culture systems in brain regions outside of the forebrain are less well established. Therefore, the wealth of time-lapse imaging data describing neuronal cell migration is restricted to the forebrain 3,4. It is still not known, whether the principles discovered for the dorsal brain hold true for ventral brain areas. In the ventral brain, neurons are organized in neuronal clusters rather than layers and they often have to undergo complicated migratory trajectories to reach their final position. The ventral midbrain is not only a good model system for ventral brain development, but also contains neuronal populations such as dopaminergic neurons that are relevant in disease processes. While the function and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons has been investigated in great detail in the adult and ageing brain, little is known about the behavior of these neurons during their differentiation and migration phase 5. We describe here the generation of slice cultures from the embryonic day (E) 12.5 mouse ventral midbrain. These slice cultures are potentially suitable for monitoring dopaminergic neuron development over several days in vitro. We highlight the critical steps in generating brain slices at these early stages of embryonic development and discuss the conditions necessary for maintaining normal development of dopaminergic neurons in vitro. We also present results from time lapse imaging experiments. In these experiments, ventral midbrain precursors (including dopaminergic precursors) and their descendants were labeled in a mosaic manner using a Cre/loxP based inducible fate mapping system 6.

Organotypic Slice Cultures of Embryonic Ventral Midbrain: A System to Study Dopaminergic Neuronal Development in vitro

A method to generate organotypic slices from the E12.5 murine embryonic midbrain is described. The organotypic slice cultures can be used to observe the behavior of dopaminergic neurons or other ventral midbrain neurons.

Organotípicas culturas de mesencéfalo ventral Slice Embrionárias: Um Sistema para o Estudo de Desenvolvimento Neuronal dopaminérgicos In vitro</em

The  mouse is an excellent model organism to study mammalian brain development due  to the abundance of molecular and genetic data. However, the ...

The Analysis of Purkinje Cell Dendritic Morphology in Organotypic Slice Cultures

Purkinje cells are an attractive model system for studying dendritic development, because they have an impressive dendritic tree which is strictly oriented in the sagittal plane and develops mostly in the postnatal period in small rodents 3. Furthermore, several antibodies are available which selectively and intensively label Purkinje cells including all processes, with anti-Calbindin D28K being the most widely used. For viewing of dendrites in living cells, mice expressing EGFP selectively in Purkinje cells 11 are available through Jackson labs. Organotypic cerebellar slice cultures cells allow easy experimental manipulation of Purkinje cell dendritic development because most of the dendritic expansion of the Purkinje cell dendritic tree is actually taking place during the culture period 4. We present here a short, reliable and easy protocol for viewing and analyzing the dendritic morphology of Purkinje cells grown in organotypic cerebellar slice cultures. For many purposes, a quantitative evaluation of the Purkinje cell dendritic tree is desirable. We focus here on two parameters, dendritic tree size and branch point numbers, which can be rapidly and easily determined from anti-calbindin stained cerebellar slice cultures. These two parameters yield a reliable and sensitive measure of changes of the Purkinje cell dendritic tree. Using the example of treatments with the protein kinase C (PKC) activator PMA and the metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1) we demonstrate how differences in the dendritic development are visualized and quantitatively assessed. The combination of the presence of an extensive dendritic tree, selective and intense immunostaining methods, organotypic slice cultures which cover the period of dendritic growth and a mouse model with Purkinje cell specific EGFP expression make Purkinje cells a powerful model system for revealing the mechanisms of dendritic development.

We present a protocol that permits to view and to quantitatively asses the morphology of the dendritic tree of individual Purkinje cells grown in organotypic cerebellar slice cultures. This protocol is intended to promote studies on the mechanisms of Purkinje cell dendritic development.

A Análise de Purkinje Morfologia de células dendríticas em Culturas fatia organotípicas

Purkinje cells are an attractive model system for studying dendritic development, because they have an impressive dendritic tree which is strictly ...

The Analysis of Neurovascular Remodeling in Entorhino-hippocampal Organotypic Slice Cultures

Ischemic brain injury is among the most common and devastating conditions compromising proper brain function and often leads to persisting functional deficits in the affected patients. Despite intensive research efforts, there is still no effective treatment option available that reduces neuronal injury and protects neurons in the ischemic areas from delayed secondary death. Research in this area typically involves the use of elaborate and problematic animal models. Entorhino-hippocampal organotypic slice cultures challenged with oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) are established in&#160;vitro models which mimic cerebral ischemia. The novel aspect of this study is that changes of the brain blood vessels are studied in addition to neuronal changes and the reaction of both the neuronal compartment and the vascular compartment can be compared and correlated. The methods presented in this protocol substantially broaden the potential applications of the organotypic slice culture approach. The induction of OGD or hypoxia alone can be applied by rather simple means in organotypic slice cultures and leads to reliable and reproducible damage in the neural tissue. This is in stark contrast to the complicated and problematic animal experiments inducing stroke and ischemia in vivo. By broadening the analysis to include the study of the reaction of the vasculature could provide new ways on how to preserve and restore brain functions. The slice culture approach presented here might develop into an attractive and important tool for the study of ischemic brain injury and might be useful for testing potential therapeutic measures aimed at neuroprotection.

A protocol for entorhino-hippocampal organotypic slice cultures, which allows reproducing many aspects of ischemic brain injury, is presented. By studying changes of the neurovasculature in addition to changes in the neurons, this protocol is a versatile tool to study plastic changes in neural tissue after injury.

A Análise de Neurovascular Remodelação em Entorhino-hipocampal culturas Organotípicas Fatia

Ischemic brain injury is among the most common and devastating conditions compromising proper brain function and often leads to persisting functional ...

Organotypic Hippocampal Slice Cultures As a Model to Study Neuroprotection and Invasiveness of Tumor Cells

In organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC), the morphological and functional characteristics of both neurons and glial cells are well preserved. This model is suitable for addressing different research questions that involve studies on neuroprotection, electrophysiological experiments on neurons, neuronal networks or tumor invasion. The hippocampal architecture and neuronal activity in multisynaptic circuits are well conserved in OHSC, even though the slicing procedure itself initially lesions and leads to formation of a glial scar. The scar formation alters presumably the mechanical properties and diffusive behavior of small molecules, etc. Slices allow the monitoring of time dependent processes after brain injury without animal surgery, and studies on interactions between various brain-derived cell types, namely astrocytes, microglia and neurons under both physiological and pathological conditions. An ambivalent aspect of this model is the absence of blood flow and immune blood cells. During the progression of the neuronal injury, migrating immune cells from the blood play an important role. As those cells are missing in slices, the intrinsic processes in the culture may be observed without external interference. Moreover, in OHSC the composition of the medium-external environment is precisely controlled. A further advantage of this method is the lower number of sacrificed animals compared to standard preparations. Several OHSC can be obtained from one animal making simultaneous studies with multiple treatments in one animal possible. For these reasons, OHSC are well suited to analyze the effects of new protective therapeutics after tissue damage or during tumor invasion. 
The protocol presented here describes a preparation method of OHSC that allows generating highly reproducible, well preserved slices that can be used for a variety of experimental research, like neuroprotection or tumor invasion studies.

Organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC) represent an in vitro model that simulates the in vivo situation very well. Here we describe a vibratome-based improved slicing protocol to obtain high quality slices for use in assessing the neuroprotective potential of novel substances or the biological behavior of tumor cells.

Organotypic fatias Hippocampal culturas como um modelo para estudo neuroproteção e invasão de células tumorais

In organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSC), the morphological and functional characteristics of both neurons and glial cells are well preserved. ...