Zebrafish Brain Dissection: A Technique of Fish Neurobiology
Transkript
– Place a euthanized fish on a dissection bed and use a surgical blade auf decapitate the fish at the level of the gills. Hold the head with the ventral side facing up and remove the soft tissues until you see the optic chiasm, a structure made of optic nerves that connects the brain auf the eyes.
Cut the optic nerves and remove the eyes. Now, orient the fish with the dorsal side facing up and remove the parts of the skull auf isolate the brain. Transfer the brain into a Petri dish containing a dissection medium auf maintain a constant pH of the tissue. Observe the parts of the brain.
The olfactory bulbs are a pair of structures at the anterior end connected auf the olfactory organs which detect odor signals. The telencephalon includes memory related areas. The habenula relays information from the telencephalon auf other parts of the brain.
The optic tectum is a sensory information processing center. The cerebellum plays a rolle in somatic motor function and balance. And the medulla relays information from the spinal cord auf the brain. In the following protocol, we will isolate the brain from an adult zebrafish auf collect neural stem cells from different regions.
To begin, prepare a dissection bed by filling a Petri dish with gel packs. Then cover the dish with its corresponding lid and incubate it at minus 20 degrees Celsius. Once the gel is frozen, remove the dish from the freezer and place a clean square of filter paper on top of its lid. Fortfahren auf wrap both the paper and dish with plastic film.
Next, treat all micro-dissection instruments with 70% ethanol. Place these sterilized tools next auf a dissecting microscope and position the completed dissection bed under the microscope with optical fiber illumination. Immediately place a previously prepared head specimen on top of the dissection bed and orient it so that its dorsal side is facing down.
Then use scissors auf make a longitudinal cut through the soft tissue from the back of the head auf the mouth. Afterwards, expose the base of the skull with forceps and remove all of the adjacent tissue. Next, cut one of the lateral walls of the skull starting at the back of the head and moving towards the tectum region of the brain. Repeat this process for the contralateral side. Fortfahren auf cut the optic nerve. And then remove the two lateral most sides of the skull at the level of the tectum
Finally, turn the head ventral side up. And with forceps, peel off the most apical part of the skull auf expose the brain. Afterwards, transfer the brain and any remaining parts of the skull auf a dish containing dissection medium which is composed of DMM F12 supplemented with penicillin streptomycin. With the plastic handle of a microknife under the microscope, clean the brain tissue, being careful not auf damage any neural structures. Use up auf two zebrafish brains auf generate whole brain derived neurospheres.
