Rosen1 project protocol

Midsagittal area of the corpus callosum in 76 BXD recombinant inbred strains of mice   (2012)

Rosen GD
With: Newbury AJ




Rosen1_protocol

Project protocol - Contents

Workflow and sampling

Step
Procedure performed
Equipment
Data collected
1
Mice anesthetized and perfused  
-
2
Brain removed and weighed  
-
3
Brain embedded and sectioned  
-
3
Corpus callosum measured
Microscope
Midsagittal area of corpus callosum (MSACC)

Equipment and supplies

  • Computer-controlled microscope (Nikon E800, Nikon Inc., Melville NY)
  • Stereo Investigator (MBF Biosciences, Williston VT)

Reagents and solutions

  • Avertin
  • Saline
  • Glutaraldehyde
  • Paraformaldehyde
  • Celloidin

Procedure: Estimation of midsagittal area of the corpus callosum

    1. All histologic data for this study were obtained from The Mouse Brain Library (MBL), a physical and Internet resource containing high-resolution images of histologically processed slides from over 3200 adult mouse brains.
    2. Mice are anesthetized with Avertin (0.8 mL i.p.).
    3. Mice are transcardially perfused with saline followed by fixative (either a glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde solution or 4% paraformaldehyde).
    4. Brains are removed and weighed.
    5. After variable post-fixation times, brains are embedded in 12% celloidin and sliced at a width of 30 microns.
    6. Area is estimated using a computer-controlled microscope and software.
    7. Dorsal-ventral distance of the corpus callosum is measured on the midline of coronal sections that are spaced ~150 microns apart (9-11 sections per brain).
    8. Area is computed using Cavalieri's rule to estimate the area underneath a curve described by dorsal-ventral distance on the Y-axis and rostro-caudal distance on the X-axis.
    9. In cases where there are missing or damage sections, a piece-wise parabolic estimation is used.
    10. Area is re-measured on 10 slides to assess intra-observer reliability (experimenter blind with respect to strain, sex, and age).
    11. Estimates are individually corrected for histological shrinkage by determining the previously computed ratio between the brain volume at fixation and that after processing.
    12. Estimates are individually adjusted for sex, age, epoch (Taylor strains vs. UTHSC Rww strains), and brain weight.

Definitions and calculations

  • MSACC: midsagittal area of the corpus callosum

Data collected by investigator

  • midsagittal area of the corpus callosum (corrected for shrinkage)
  • midsagittal area of the corpus callosum (adjusted for sex, age, epoch (Taylor strains vs. UTHSC Rww strains), and brain weight