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Abstract

Neuroscience

Isolation and Culture of Oculomotor, Trochlear, and Spinal Motor Neurons from Prenatal Islmn:GFP Transgenic Mice

Published: November 12th, 2019

DOI:

10.3791/60440

1Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, 2FM Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children's Hospital, 3Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, 4Medical Genetics Training Program, Harvard Medical School, 5Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, 6Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, 7Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard, 8Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 9Department of Neurology, Kokura Memorial Hospital, 10Department of Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Abstract

Oculomotor neurons (CN3s) and trochlear neurons (CN4s) exhibit remarkable resistance to degenerative motor neuron diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) when compared to spinal motor neurons (SMNs). The ability to isolate and culture primary mouse CN3s, CN4s, and SMNs would provide an approach to study mechanisms underlying this selective vulnerability. To date, most protocols use heterogeneous cell cultures, which can confound the interpretation of experimental outcomes. To minimize the problems associated with mixed-cell populations, pure cultures are indispensable. Here, the first protocol describes in detail how to efficiently purify and cultivate CN3s/CN4s alongside SMNs counterparts from the same embryos using embryonic day 11.5 (E11.5) IslMN:GFP transgenic mouse embryos. The protocol provides details on the tissue dissection and dissociation, FACS-based cell isolation, and in vitro cultivation of cells from CN3/CN4 and SMN nuclei. This protocol adds a novel in vitro CN3/CN4 culture system to existing protocols and simultaneously provides a pure species- and age-matched SMN culture for comparison. Analyses focusing on the morphological, cellular, molecular, and electrophysiological characteristics of motor neurons are feasible in this culture system. This protocol will enable research into the mechanisms that define motor neuron development, selective vulnerability, and disease.

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Keywords Oculomotor Neurons

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