Stereotaxic Surgery for Excitotoxic Lesion of Specific Brain Areas in the Adult Rat

Summary

Targeted ablation of specific brain region(s) by infusion of an excitotoxin using stereotaxic coordinates is described. This technique could also be adapted for infusion of other chemicals into the rat brain.

Abstract

Many behavioral functions in mammals, including rodents and humans, are mediated principally by discrete brain regions. A common method for discerning the function of various brain regions for behavior or other experimental outcomes is to implement a localized ablation of function. In humans, patient populations with localized brain lesions are often studied for deficits, in hopes of revealing the underlying function of the damaged area. In rodents, one can experimentally induce lesions of specific brain regions.

Lesion can be accomplished in several ways. Electrolytic lesions can cause localized damage but will damage a variety of cell types as well as traversing fibers from other brain regions that happen to be near the lesion site. Inducible genetic techniques using cell-type specific promoters may also enable site-specific targeting. These techniques are complex and not always practical depending on the target brain area. Excitotoxic lesion using stereotaxic surgery, by contrast, is one of the most reliable and practical methods of lesioning excitatory neurons without damaging local glial cells or traversing fibers.

Here, we present a protocol for stereotaxic infusion of the excitotoxin, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), into the basolateral amygdala complex. Using anatomical indications, we apply stereotaxic coordinates to determine the location of our target brain region and lower an injection needle in place just above the target. We then infuse our excitotoxin into the brain, resulting in excitotoxic death of nearby neurons. While our experimental subject of choice is a rat, the same methods can be applied to other mammals, with the appropriate adjustments in equipment and coordinates.

This method can be used on a variety of brain regions, including the basolateral amygdala^1-6, other amygdala nuclei^{6, 7}, hippocampus⁸, entorhinal cortex⁹ and prefrontal cortex¹⁰. It can also be used to infuse biological compounds such as viral vectors^{1, 11}. The basic stereotaxic technique could also be adapted for implantation of more permanent osmotic pumps, allowing more prolonged exposure to a compound of interest.

Protocol

Anesthesia and analgesia: Thirty minutes prior to anesthesia, inject the rat with 0.05 mg/kg subcutaneous buprenorphine for analgesia. Initiate anesthesia with 30-40 mg/kg intraperitoneal sodium pentobarbital. At this point, also inject atropine to prevent respiratory failure (0.4 mg/kg, subcutaneous) and meloxicam as further analgesic (2 mg/kg subcutaneous). If after 5 minutes, the rat is still mobile or responsive to toe pinch, give subsequent doses of sodium pentobarbital at 5 mg/kg (intraperitoneal) until the rat is …

Discussion

The stereotaxic method presented here allows for excitotoxic lesion of specific brain areas via infusion of NMDA. The basic stereotaxic methods can be adapted to infuse a variety of pharmacological and biological agents in a site-specific manner. It can also be adapted to target a variety of brain areas, defined by their stereotaxic coordinates in a brain atlas¹². Adaptation to other species such as mice can be made with similar equipment built for smaller animals. The present procedures are optimized for 3 mo…

Materials

Name of the reagent	Company	Catalogue number	Comments
N-Methyl-D-aspartic Acid 98%	Fisher Scientific	AC32919-0500
Dual Lab Standard Stereotaxic w/45 deg. Ear Bars	Stoelting	51653	Alternative vendor: Kopf *note of caution: assure compatibility of stereotaxic accessories if purchasing from multiple vendors
10μl SYR SPECIAL (*/*/*)	Hamilton	701SN
Dremel Moto-Tool	Stoelting	58600	Alternative vendor: Kopf
Carbide burs, handpiece HP, size 2	Schein Dental	2284578
Stoelting 6 Syringe Programmable Pump	Stoelting	53140	Alternative vendor: Kopf
Stainless Steel 316 Hypodermic Regular Wall Tubing 30 Gauge .0123″ OD x .00625″ ID x .003″ Wall (infusion needle)	Small Parts	HTXX-30R-06-05
Intramedic PE 20 tubing (infusion tubing)	VWR	63019-025
Reflex Clips, 9mm, non-sterile	Kent Scientific Corp.	INS500346	Alternative vendor: Fine Science Tools
Reflex Clip Applier for 9mm clips	Kent Scientific Corp.	12031-09	Alternative vendor: Fine Science Tools
Curved Hartman hemostat	Fine Science Tools	13003-10
London forceps	Fine Sceince Tools	11080-02
2% chlorhexidine solution	Allivet	30159	Alternative vendor: PetSolutions
10% povidone iodine solution	CVS	SKU #739575
Hot bead sterilizer	Harvard Apparatus	610183

Table 1. Table of specific reagents and equipment.