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Rodent acute brain slice

Mammals share many similarities in brain development, structure and functioning. That's why most of the research on central nervous system involves rodents, for which many transgenic and experimental disease models exist. Although new approaches are rapidly developing, rodent brain research remains essential to the sucess of preclinical studies.

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Highly
physiological

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Intact
circuits & networks

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All cell
types are present

Physiological approach

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  • The slicing parameters (brain area, angle, thickness etc.) are specific to each project and ensure not only that all endogeneous neuronal and non-neuronal cell types are present, but also that the specific circuits they form are intact.​

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  • The brain area and cell type to be recorded are therefore selected based on the pathology or paradigm to be studied (e.g. hippocampus for memory/plasticity, amygdala for fear/anxiety etc.)

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  • Many animal models can be employed that carry specific mutations or mimic a pathology/condition of interest affecting the development or functioning of these networks.

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  • Acute brain slices are a widely used and well studied approach known to provide reliable and reproducible data.​​​

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Relevant in many situations

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  • The slices can be used to record a specific neuron type (patch-clamp) or a neuronal population part of a broader network (field recordings).

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  • Precise manipulations (e.g. cell-type-specific markers, knock-outs, optogenetic activation/silencing etc.) are achieved by employing transgenic animals or viral transfections.​

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  • Our expertise covers a large spectrum of brain structures including hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, neocortex, olfactory bulb, spinal cord, substantia nigra, cerebellum and others.

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