I will be doing some discrete brain dissections and need to justifying my animal numbers. I want to pool my tissue samples to get a solution that is 700 mg/ml. Does anyone have information concerning the "average" wet weight for the following dissected RAT brain areas:
Substantia nigra, striatum, septum, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, or VTA?
In first approximation, there is negligible difference between the regions you specified. So, all you need is the average wet weight for rat brain tissue. Rat brain has a specific density in the range of ~1.04 - 1.05 g/ml (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-7091-9115-6_12).
So, the amount of tissue you need depends on the volume of your dissected regions, which differ greatly in size. But lets say on average you will dissect pieces of 10 mm^3, then each piece will have a wet weight of about 10 mg.
Yeah...Does any one have info on the "average" wet weight for the following dissected RAT brain areas:
Substantia nigra, striatum, septum, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, or VTA?
In first approximation, there is negligible difference between the regions you specified. So, all you need is the average wet weight for rat brain tissue. Rat brain has a specific density in the range of ~1.04 - 1.05 g/ml (http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-7091-9115-6_12).
So, the amount of tissue you need depends on the volume of your dissected regions, which differ greatly in size. But lets say on average you will dissect pieces of 10 mm^3, then each piece will have a wet weight of about 10 mg.
Hi Kimberly,
the weights of some brain areas will strongly depend on the dissection method you use.
Our preparation based mainly on the method of Glowinski and Iversen (1966) and I can give you some rough weights for orientation: hippocampus ca. 180mg, Striatum ca. 240mg (depends on your definition of Striatum/ ours included globus pallidus and caudate putamen) nucleus accumbens ca. 70mg and Septum 20 to 30mg. I never prepared substantia nigra or VTA alone (both were included in our midbrain area). Note that our weights were from young adult rats (aprox. 3 to 4 month old). I hope this helps.
Please, check that if they are normal rats or if they have liver failure, the weigh is higher in the same volume due to the increased amount of water in the disease. I would recommend to include controls and disease if you want to measure the differences in weight and measure them in your hands. I hope this helps in your problem.
Hi Murat and Florian
Thank for the information. It was perfect. I know I dissections vary from lab to lab and even rat to rat, but a rough idea of the wet weights will lets me estimate reasonable rat numbers. I really appreciate the help. Cheers!
Hi Kimberly,
I prepared VTA freshly dissected from adult rats and in my experience you can get max. 100mg if you collect from both hemispheres (I take both sides lateral from the midline using a long-edged razor blade). This region is a lot more difficult than the NAc or lateral septi e.g. I have not done SNc but you could do it simultaneous with the VTA; in fact I use it as a landmark to know where my VTA is located. Good luck!
CORRECTION Hi!! Sorry, I just realized I made a mistake (obviously); the max. you can get for the VTA when collecting from both hemispheres is about 10mg (and not 100mg). Sorry about the confusion! I used 12 wks old Wistar rats.
Hi. I dissected out both side hippocampous from 300g rat and it was 0.3 gr .
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