A 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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• As a bridge between in vitro and in vivo conditions, organotypic slices in culture can be used to assess the effects of a compound over time and combined to genetic manipulations such as viral expression of a shRNA to silence a putative target.

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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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