Name: stereological estimation of cholinergic fiber length in the nucleus basalis of meynert of the mouse brain
Uploaded: 2020-02-05T12:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Stereological Estimation of Cholinergic Fiber Length in the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert of the Mouse Brain at JoVE.com

This work was supported by grants to W.Z.S. from the Medical Research and Development Service, Department of Veterans Affairs (Merit Review 1I01 BX001067-01A2), the Alzheimer&#39;s Association (NPSPAD-11-202149), and resources from the Midwest Biomedical Research Foundation.

All procedures for using these animals have been approved by the Kansas City Veterans Affairs Medical Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Eighteen-month-old mice overexpressing Swedish mutant beta-amyloid precursor protein (APPswe) and their C57/BL6 WT littermates were used for the experiments. Details of breeding and genotyping is given in He et al.8.
1. Perfusion and tissue processing
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	<li>Anesthetize mice using an intraperitoneal injection with...

<ol>
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Here we demonstrate a method to estimate the density of cholinergic fibers in the NBM using a space ball (sphere) probe. This probe estimates the total fiber length in the region of interest. The total length can be divided by the volume of the region to get the fiber density. To estimate the volume of the region, the Cavalieri point count method was used. The Cavalieri point count method is an unbiased and efficient estimator of a 3D reference volume for any region. The method calculates an estimate of the area on a cut...

Quantitative estimates of length and/or density of nerve fibers in the brain are important parameters of neuropathological studies. The length of cholinergic, dopaminergic, and serotonergic axons in various brain regions are often correlated with the specific functions of the region. Because the distribution of these axons is generally heterogeneous, design-based stereology is used to avoid bias during sampling. The space ball probe of stereology has been designed to provide efficient and reliable measures of line-like structures such as neuronal fibers in a region of interest1. The probe makes a virtual sphere that is imposed systematically in the tissue to measure line intersections with the surface of the probe. Because it is impossible to put sphere probes in the tissue for analysis, the commercially available software provides a virtual three-dimensional (3D) sphere, which is basically a series of concentric circles of various diameters that represent the surface of the sphere probe.
Selective cholinergic neurodegeneration is one of the consistent features of Alzheimer&#39;s disease (AD)2,3,4. Dysfunctional cholinergic transmission is considered a causative factor for cognitive decline in AD. Cholinergic dysfunction is also evident in many other mental disorders such as Parkinson&#39;s, addiction, and schizophrenia. Different aspects of cholinergic neurodegeneration are studied in animal models (e.g., reduction in acetylcholine5, ChAT protein6, cholinergic fiber neurodegeneration in the vicinity of amyloid plaques6, and decrease in cholinergic fibers and synaptic varicosities7,8). Fiber degeneration is believed to take place earlier than neuronal loss, because cholinergic neuronal loss is not always observed in studies. Most of the cholinergic neurons are in the basal forebrain and the brain stem, and their axons project to various brain regions such as the cortices and hippocampus. NBM is situated in the basal forebrain and found to be one of the commonly affected brain areas in AD.
The fractionator method of stereology is based on systematic random sampling of a tissue at multiple levels. Section sampling fraction (SSF) is the non-computer based systematic sampling of sections for the fractionator method of stereology. Area sampling fraction (ASF) is fractionation of an area of the region of interest in the section. Thickness sampling fraction (TSF) is the fractionation of the thickness of a section. The space ball probe allows us to quantify profiles of interest in a 3D sphere at fractionated locations. Here we use a space ball probe for estimation of the total length of cholinergic fibers in the NBM of mouse brain to illustrate the procedures. The current protocol provides details on tissue processing, sampling methods for stereology, immunohistochemical staining using the ChAT antibody, and unbiased stereology to estimate cholinergic fiber length and fiber density in the NBM of mouse brain.

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	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>ABC kit</td>
			<td>Vector Laboratories</td>
			<td>PK6100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti-ChAT Antibody</td>
			<td>Millipore, MA, USA</td>
			<td>AB144P</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bovine anti-goat IgG-B</td>
			<td>Santacruz Biotechnology</td>
			<td>SC-2347</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bovine Serum, Adult</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>B9433</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cryostat</td>
			<td>Lieca Microsystems, Buffalo Grove, IL, USA</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dulbecco&#39;s Phosphate Buffered Saline</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>D5652</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ethylene Glycol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>324558</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glycerol</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>G2025</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hydrogen Peroxide</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>H1009</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Immpact-DAB kit</td>
			<td>Vector Laboratories</td>
			<td>SK4105</td>
			<td>Enhanced DAB peroxidase substrate solution</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ketamine</td>
			<td>Westward Pharmaceuticals, NJ, USA</td>
			<td>0143-9509-01</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microscope</td>
			<td>Lieca Microsystems, Buffalo Grove, IL, USA</td>
			<td>AF6000</td>
			<td>Equipped with motorized stage and IMI-tech color digital camera</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Optimum cutting temperature (O.C.T.) embedding medium</td>
			<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences, PA, USA</td>
			<td>62550-12</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Paraformaldehyde</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>P6148</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Permount mounting medium</td>
			<td>Electron Microscopy Sciences, PA, USA</td>
			<td>17986-01</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Stereologer Software</td>
			<td>Stereology Resource Center, Inc. St. Petersburg, FL, USA</td>
			<td>Stereologer2000</td>
			<td>Installed on a Dell Desktop computer.</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Triton X-100</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>T8787</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trizma Base</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>T1503</td>
			<td>Tris base</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Trizma hydrochloride</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA</td>
			<td>T5941</td>
			<td>Tris hydrochloride</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Xylazine</td>
			<td>Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany</td>
			<td>Rompun</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Xylenes, Histological grade</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO</td>
			<td>534056</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

stereological estimation of cholinergic fiber length in the nucleus basalis of meynert of the mouse brain

The length of cholinergic or other neuronal axons in various brain regions are often correlated with the specific function of the region. Stereology is a useful method to quantify neuronal profiles of various brain structures. Here we provide a software-based stereology protocol to estimate the total length of cholinergic fibers in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) of the basal forebrain. The method uses a space ball probe for length estimates. The cholinergic fibers are visualized by choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunostaining with the horseradish peroxidase-diaminobenzidine (HRP-DAB) detection system. The staining protocol is also valid for fiber and cell number estimation in various brain regions using stereology software. The stereology protocol can be used for estimation of any linear profiles such as cholinoceptive fibers, dopaminergic/catecholaminergic fibers, serotonergic fibers, astrocyte processes, or even vascular profiles.

Representative results are shown in Table 1 and Figure 5. Group C, which was decoded as APPswe group (APP), had significantly lower fiber length (Figure 5B) and fiber length density (Figure 5C) compared to their wild type (WILD) littermates. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the volume of the NBM between the two groups analyzed (Figu...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Stereological Estimation of Cholinergic Fiber Length in the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert of the Mouse Brain at JoVE.com

Stereological Estimation of Cholinergic Fiber Length in the Nucleus Basalis of Meynert of the Mouse Brain

Neuronal fiber length within a three-dimensional structure of a brain region is a reliable parameter to quantify specific neuronal structural integrity or degeneration. This article details a stereological quantification method to measure cholinergic fiber length within the nucleus basalis of Meynert in mice as an example.

The length of cholinergic or other neuronal axons in various brain regions are often correlated with the specific function of the region. Stereology is a ...

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