I am currently working on a mouse model that I will be collecting long bones and muscles from. We have decided to extract the brain for IHC and we do not want to perform transcardial perfusion as it may render the BMSC unusable (as well as affect other molecular endpoints of interest). Is there a way to extract the brain without fixation perfusion?
Thank you!
You can dislocate the spine , decapitate, and remove the braine. Just after excretion put the brain in the fixative solution of 4% PA for
overnight fixation at the 4oC.
Good luck
Hi, I had no problem harvesting the brain when fresh. I start with cervical dislocation or decapitation and then harvest the brain full or in distinct parts (HT, Hippocampus, Cerebellum, striatum, OB etc). You can snap freeze for RNA analysis or post fix in PFA at 4degrees and then place in sucrose 30% until they sink for cryoprotection. You can then include them in OCT or gelatin
I think Marie has described it well. This is how I have been doing and results are great.
I would agree with others, dislocate the cervical spine or decapitate (depends in which brain regions you are interested in) and then fix in PFA afterwards. Dissection of the brain will be a bit more tricky but it is doable.
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