Visualization and Genetic Manipulation of Dendrites and Spines in the Mouse Cerebral Cortex and Hippocampus using In utero Electroporation

JoVE 4163 7/26/2012

Emilie Pacary¹, Matilda A. Haas¹, Hendrik Wildner¹, Roberta Azzarelli¹, Donald M. Bell², Djoher Nora Abrous³, François Guillemot¹

¹Division of Molecular Neurobiology, MRC National Institute for Medical Research, ²Confocal and Image Analysis Laboratory, National Institute for Medical Research, ³Physiopathologie de la plasticité neuronale, Neurocentre Magendie, Université de Bordeaux

This article describes in detail a protocol to electroporate in utero the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus at E14.5 in mice. We also show that this is a valuable method to study dendrites and spines in these two cerebral regions.