Cranial Ring Assembly Installation in Mouse Model: A Surgical Procedure to Implant Visualization Window Assembly on Murine Skull for High-resolution Skull Bone Marrow Imaging

Abstract

Source: Bornert, A. et. al., In Vivo Two-photon Imaging of Megakaryocytes and Proplatelets in the Mouse Skull Bone Marrow. J. Vis. Exp. (2021)

In this video, we describe a surgical procedure to implant a cranial ring assembly on the exposed skull bone and further immobilize the mouse’s head for high-resolution brain imaging for a long duration.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Surgery and installation of the cranial ring

NOTE: The full support for mouse installation comprises 4 pieces, a block and a plate, the ring to hold the mouse head, and a screw to fix the ring to the block (Figure 1A). All elements of the support have been obtained from i.materialise.com by 3D printing. The plate is made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer, the block and screw of stainless steel, and the ri....

Results

Figure 1: Experimental setup used for two-photon imaging through the skull bone. (A) The 3D printed stainless steel block is fixed on the ABS polymer support (see Figure 2 and Materials for the 3D designs)........

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Ocrygel 10 g	Laboratoires T.V.M.	3.70045E+12	Silicon dental paste blue and yellow
Superglue gel			To glue the ring to the bone
Histoacryl 5 x 0.5 mL  	Braun	1050052	Injectable solution of surgical glue