Name: modified roller tube method for precisely localized and repetitive intermittent imaging during long-term culture of brain slices in an enclosed system
Uploaded: 2017-12-28T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Modified Roller Tube Method for Precisely Localized and Repetitive Intermittent Imaging During Long-term Culture of Brain Slices in an Enclosed System at JoVE

Animal use follows approved breeding and animal use protocols that conform to the Animal Care and Use Guidelines of Colorado State University.
NOTE: The protocol below describes the preparation and culture method for the long-term incubation and intermittent imaging of hippocampal slices. A single hippocampal slice is attached to a specially prepared photoetched coverslip using a plasma clot, and then the coverslips are sealed onto the flat side of a drilled-out roller tube, which is maintaine...

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The roller tube method described here allows for long-term culturing and high-resolution live imaging of sliced brain tissue. One major issue with the slice technique as applied here is in the mounting and maintenance of slices. Coverslip coatings that support slice adhesion, promote slice thinning by enhancing the outgrowth of neurites and migration of cells out of the slice; thus, we avoided the use of these substrates. The insertion of amino groups onto the glass by treatment with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane improved...

Primary culture of dissociated neurons from regions of rodent brain is an important tool used by researchers to observe responses to pathologically implicated stimuli. However, such studies have the disadvantage of looking at neurons in only 2D and without their glial support system. Furthermore, unless grown under conditions of very high density (640 neurons/mm2 or about 16% of surface area) in which it becomes impossible to follow the random outgrowth of a dendrite or axon for more than a short distance from its cell body, hippocampal neuronal viability over 4 weeks declines significantly1, limiting the use of dissociated cultures for extended studies of age-related pathologies. The culturing of slices prepared from rodent brain is an attractive option that overcomes these limitations by maintaining an organized cell architecture and viability for weeks or months. Conditions for maintaining many different regions of rodent brain in slice culture have been described2.
Two major methods are widely used for long-term culture of brain slices: culturing on membranes at the air-liquid interface3 or culturing on coverslips in sealed tubes allowed to rotate in a roller incubator to provide aeration4. Slices cultured on membranes can be directly imaged with high-resolution fluorescence microscopy using an upright microscope and water immersion objectives5. Alternatively, slices cultured on membranes have been transferred to glass bottom dishes to achieve good resolution of dendritic spines using an inverted microscope6. However, both methods of imaging slices grown on membranes are open systems that require medium changes and often use antifungal and/or antibiotics to prevent or reduce contamination5,6. Slices on a membrane at the air-medium interface maintain excellent morphology and survival, but returning to precise locations during repetitive imaging at high magnification is extremely difficult unless the experiment is following only small groups of cells expressing a fluorescent marker. Although slices grown on membranes have been used with viral-mediated expression of transgenes5,6, biosafety protocols may require an enclosed culture system be employed for certain viral vectors that are used for expressing fluorescently tagged proteins and reporters of cell physiology. Furthermore, immersion objectives require decontamination between samples that will be followed in culture5. One major application of membrane interface cultures is combining high-resolution imaging with electrophysiology at single time points7.
The roller tube method with coverslips inside the plastic tube does not permit any electrophysiology or high-resolution imaging without removing the coverslip. Thus, this method has been most often applied to long-term studies in which post-fixation observations have been made8. Described here is a method that utilizes the roller tube culture technique but on drilled-out tubes with slices on coverslips that can be imaged repetitively for as long as the cultures are maintained. The enclosed system requires no medium change for imaging and utilizes photoetched coverslips to provide fiducial marks that allow imaging at high magnification, after days or weeks, the precise fields previously imaged.
We apply this method to examine changes in the rodent hippocampus, a major brain region involved in memory and learning. The rodent hippocampus is often studied as a model for pathological or age-related changes observed during development of cognitive impairment9, such as those that occur in AD. Our method is particularly well suited to study pathological changes that develop within a single slice over time in response to environmental changes, such as increases in A&#946; peptides, which is characteristic of AD8. One pathology associated with human and rodent AD brain is the presence of cofilin-actin aggregates and rods, the latter containing bundles of filaments in which cofilin and actin are in a 1:1 molar ratio10,11,12. Rods have been observed in fixed slices of rat hippocampus following A&#946; treatment, as well as within a live rodent brain slice expressing cofilin-GFP subjected to hypoxia8, and they may contribute to the synaptic dysfunction seen in AD and stroke. Here we use this new culturing method to observe the time course and distribution within slices of expressed exogenous chimeric fluorescent proteins introduced by different viruses. We then utilize the neuronal specific expression of a cofilin reporter construct to follow the development of cofilin rod and aggregate pathology in hippocampal slices in response to treatment with soluble A&#946; oligomers (A&#946;o).

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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;width:280px;">Bottoms from 15 cm culture dishes</td>
			<td style="width:220px;">VWR Scientific</td>
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			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Polyethylene tubing (5/16&#34;; OD, 3/16&#34;; ID)</td>
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			<td>Cut to 1.8&#34; length</td>
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			<td>ACE Hardware</td>
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			<td>Bellco Glass, Inc.</td>
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			<td>A3648</td>
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		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">#5 Dumont Forceps</td>
			<td>Fine Science Tools</td>
			<td>11251-30</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">McIlwain Tissue Chopper</td>
			<td>Ted Pella, Inc.</td>
			<td>10180</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Double Edge Razor Blades</td>
			<td>Ted Pella, Inc.</td>
			<td>121-6</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Whatman Filter Paper</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>28450-182</td>
			<td>Cut into 5.8 cm diameter circles</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Poly-chloro-trifluoro-ethylene (Aclar)</td>
			<td>Ted Pella, Inc.</td>
			<td>10501-10</td>
			<td>Cut into 5.8 cm diameter circles</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">#21 Surgical Blade</td>
			<td>VWR Scientific</td>
			<td>25860-144</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">#5 Dumont Forceps</td>
			<td>Fine Science Tools</td>
			<td>11251-30</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Spatula, stainless with tapered end</td>
			<td>VWR</td>
			<td>82027-518</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Gey&#39;s Balanced Salt Solution</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>G9779&#160;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">&#160;Glucose</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>15023-021</td>
			<td>25% (w/v) Solution, 0.2 mm filter sterilized</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Chicken Plasma</td>
			<td>Cocalico Biologicals</td>
			<td>30-0300-5L</td>
			<td>Rehydrate in sterile water, centrifuge at 2500 x g 30 min at 4 &#176;C, quick freeze aliquots in liquid nitrogen and store at&#160; -80 &#176;C.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Thrombin, Bovine</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>60-516-01KU</td>
			<td>150 units /ml in GBSS/Glucose, quick freeze aliquots in liquid nitrogen and store at -80 &#176;C.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Cell Roller System</td>
			<td>Bellco Biotech</td>
			<td>SciERA</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Roller Incubator</td>
			<td>Forma</td>
			<td>Model 3956</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">N21-MAX</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>AR008</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Pen/Strep (100X)</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>15140122</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">200 mM Glutamine</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>25030081</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Glucose</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>15023-021</td>
			<td>25% (w/v) Solution, 0.2 mm filter sterilized</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Neurobasal A</td>
			<td>ThermoFisher Scientific</td>
			<td>10888-022&#160;</td>
			<td>Complete Medium: 48 mL Neurobasal A, 1 mL N21-MAX, 0.625 mL 200 mM Glutamine, 0.180 mL 25% Glucose, 0.250 mL 100x pen/strep.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Third generation lentivirus packaging</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>K4975-00</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">159 K cutoff centrifugal filters (Centricon)</td>
			<td>EMD Millipore</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Lentiviral cloning system (InFusion)</td>
			<td>Clonetech</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Plasmids 30323, 50856, 51279</td>
			<td>Addgene</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Neuronal cell viability dye (NeuO)</td>
			<td>Stemcell technologies</td>
			<td>1801</td>
			<td>Thaw once and quick freeze in 4 &#181;L aliquots. Store at -20 &#176;C</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Inverted microscope</td>
			<td>Olympus</td>
			<td>IX83</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Microscope objectives</td>
			<td>Olympus</td>
			<td>air: 4X, 20; oil: 40X, 60X,</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Spinning disc confocal system</td>
			<td>Yokagawa</td>
			<td>CSU22</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Microscope EMCCD camera</td>
			<td>Photometrics</td>
			<td>Cascade II</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Linear encoded (x,y), piezo z flat top stage</td>
			<td>ASI</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Microscope lasers and integration</td>
			<td>Intelligent Imaging Innovations</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">HEK293T cells</td>
			<td>American Type Culture Collection</td>
			<td>CRL-3216</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="40">
			<td height="40" style="height:40px;">Human Plasmin</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>P1867</td>
			<td>0.002 U/mL in 0.1% bovine serum albumin (0.2 mm filter sterilized), quick freeze in liquid nitrogen and store at -80 &#176;C.</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

modified roller tube method for precisely localized and repetitive intermittent imaging during long-term culture of brain slices in an enclosed system

Cultured rodent brain slices are useful for studying the cellular and molecular behavior of neurons and glia in an environment that maintains many of their normal in vivo interactions. Slices obtained from a variety of transgenic mouse lines or use of viral vectors for expression of fluorescently tagged proteins or reporters in wild type brain slices allow for high-resolution imaging by fluorescence microscopy. Although several methods have been developed for imaging brain slices, combining slice culture with the ability to perform repetitive high-resolution imaging of specific cells in live slices over long time periods has posed problems. This is especially true when viral vectors are used for expression of exogenous proteins since this is best done in a closed system to protect users and prevent cross contamination. Simple modifications made to the roller tube brain slice culture method that allow for repetitive high-resolution imaging of slices over many weeks in an enclosed system are reported. Culturing slices on photoetched coverslips permits the use of fiducial marks to rapidly and precisely reposition the stage to image the identical field over time before and after different treatments. Examples are shown for the use of this method combined with specific neuronal staining and expression to observe changes in hippocampal slice architecture, viral-mediated neuronal expression of fluorescent proteins, and the development of cofilin pathology, which was previously observed in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in response to slice treatment with oligomers of amyloid-&#946; (A&#946;) peptide.

To determine how accurately fiducial marks can be utilized to reimage the same cells within the same fields over time, we examined slices grown on photoetched coverslips (Figure 6A). Neurons were visualized by staining with a vital dye (100 nM for 2 h; does not stain non-neuronal cells), which disappears from neurons over time without harming the cells25. We identified a fiducial mark in a single grid square (<strong c...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Modified Roller Tube Method for Precisely Localized and Repetitive Intermittent Imaging During Long-term Culture of Brain Slices in an Enclosed System at JoVE

Modified Roller Tube Method for Precisely Localized and Repetitive Intermittent Imaging During Long-term Culture of Brain Slices in an Enclosed System

Presented here is a modified roller tube method for culturing and intermittent high-resolution imaging of rodent brain slices over many weeks with precise repositioning on photoetched coverslips. Neuronal viability and slice morphology are well maintained. Applications of this fully enclosed system using viruses for cell-type specific expression are provided.

Cultured rodent brain slices are useful for studying the cellular and molecular behavior of neurons and glia in an environment that maintains many of ...

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

A Polished and Reinforced Thinned-skull Window for Long-term Imaging of the Mouse Brain

In vivo imaging of cortical function requires optical access to the brain without disruption of the intracranial environment. We present a method to form ...

A Molecular Readout of Long-term Olfactory Adaptation in C. elegans

A Molecular Readout of Long-term Olfactory Adaptation in C. elegans

During sustained stimulation most sensory neurons will adapt their response by decreasing their sensitivity to the signal. The adaptation response helps ...

Improved Preparation and Preservation of Hippocampal Mouse Slices for a Very Stable and Reproducible Recording of Long-term Potentiation

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a type of synaptic plasticity characterized by an increase in synaptic strength and believed to be involved in memory ...

In vivo Postnatal Electroporation and Time-lapse Imaging of Neuroblast Migration in Mouse Acute Brain Slices

In vivo Postnatal Electroporation and Time-lapse Imaging of Neuroblast Migration in Mouse Acute Brain Slices

The subventricular zone (SVZ) is one of the main neurogenic niches in the postnatal brain. Here, neural progenitors proliferate and give rise to ...

Long-term Time Lapse Imaging of Mouse Cochlear Explants

Here we present a method for long-term time-lapse imaging of live embryonic mouse cochlear explants. The developmental program responsible for building ...

Regioselective Biolistic Targeting in Organotypic Brain Slices Using a Modified Gene Gun

Transfection of DNA has been invaluable for biological sciences and with recent advances to organotypic brain slice preparations, the effect of various ...

Isolation, Culture and Long-Term Maintenance of Primary Mesencephalic Dopaminergic Neurons From Embryonic Rodent Brains

Degeneration of mesencephalic dopaminergic (mesDA) neurons is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson&#8217;s diseae. Study of the biological processes ...

Agarose Microchambers for Long-term Calcium Imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans

Agarose Microchambers for Long-term Calcium Imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans

Behavior is controlled by the nervous system. Calcium imaging is a straightforward method in the transparent nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to measure ...

A Simplified Method for Ultra-Low Density, Long-Term Primary Hippocampal Neuron Culture

Culturing primary hippocampal neurons in vitro facilitates mechanistic interrogation of many aspects of neuronal development. Dissociated embryonic ...

Preparation of Acute Brain Slices Using an Optimized N-Methyl-D-glucamine Protective Recovery Method

Preparation of Acute Brain Slices Using an Optimized N-Methyl-D-glucamine Protective Recovery Method

This protocol is a practical guide to the N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) protective recovery method of brain slice preparation. Numerous recent studies have ...