Muscle Whole Mount
Muscle Whole Mount - Related Videos
06:12
Dissection of the Transversus Abdominis Muscle for Whole-mount Neuromuscular Junction Analysis
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Cited by 23 •
2014
In this video we demonstrate a protocol for dissection of the transversus abdominis muscle of the mouse and use immunofluorescence and microscopy to visualize neuromuscular junctions.
08:49
Reproducible Mouse Sciatic Nerve Crush and Subsequent Assessment of Regeneration by Whole Mount Muscle Analysis
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Cited by 59 •
2012
In this report we describe a method to crush mouse sciatic nerve. This method uses readily available hemostatic forceps and easily and reproducibly produces complete sciatic nerve crush. In addition, we describe a method to prepare muscle whole mounts suitable for analysis of nerve regeneration after sciatic nerve crush.
14:02
Ex Vivo Assessment of Contractility, Fatigability and Alternans in Isolated Skeletal Muscles
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Cited by 53 •
2012
We describe a method to directly measure muscle force, muscle power, contractile kinetics and fatigability of isolated skeletal muscles in an in vitro system using field stimulation. Valuable information on Ca2+ handling properties and contractile machinery of the muscle can be obtained using different stimulating protocols.
08:41
Dissection of Single Skeletal Muscle Fibers for Immunofluorescent and Morphometric Analyses of Whole-Mount Neuromuscular Junctions
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Cited by 3 •
2021
The ability to accurately detect neuromuscular junction components is crucial in evaluating modifications in its architecture because of pathological or developmental processes. Here we present a complete description of a straightforward method to obtain high-quality images of whole-mount neuromuscular junctions that can be used to perform quantitative measurements.
08:00
Whole-Mount In Situ Hybridization
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2023
Whole-mount in situ hybridization (WMISH) is a common technique used for visualizing the location of expressed RNAs in embryos. In this process, synthetically produced RNA probes are first complementarily bound, or "hybridized," to the transcripts of target genes. Immunohistochemistry or fluorescence is then used to detect these RNA hybrids, revealing spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression. Unlike traditional in situ hybridization techniques, which require thin tissue sections whose...
FAQs
Keeping the muscle intact preserves the spatial relationships among muscle fibers, motor axons, and neuromuscular junctions. This context helps investigators assess how axons reach and connect with their targets rather than inferring those relationships from separate thin sections. The approach is therefore useful for examining the organization of innervation and synaptic structures across a muscle or defined muscle segment.
Markers provide the signals needed to distinguish cellular and neural structures within the preserved specimen. Fluorescent labeling supports visualization by microscopy, while histochemical labeling offers another way to identify tissue features. Selecting and applying these labels allows investigators to examine muscle fibers, motor axons, or neuromuscular junctions in relation to one another within the same spatial framework.
The preparation can show how motor-neuron innervation and synaptic morphology vary across experimental conditions. In neuroscience, investigators can examine these structures during development, after injury, or in disease-related studies. Because the specimen retains three-dimensional relationships, analyses can focus not only on whether connections are present, but also on how their organization and morphology change.
Preparation begins by preserving the tissue through fixation, followed by permeabilization to enable labels to access the specimen. The intact muscle or segment is then treated with fluorescent or histochemical markers and mounted for microscopy. These steps maintain the specimen's architecture while making selected cellular and neural features visible for direct examination.
An intact preparation retains three-dimensional relationships that thin sections may divide across separate planes. This makes it easier to view the arrangement of fibers, axons, and neuromuscular junctions within their shared tissue context. Thin sections can provide sectional views, whereas Muscle Whole Mount supports direct assessment of spatial organization across a larger continuous specimen.
Researchers can use the method when they need to investigate how motor neurons connect with muscle or how neuromuscular synapses are arranged. It is relevant to studies of development, injury, and disease, where innervation patterns or synaptic morphology may change. The resulting images also support quantitative analysis of these structural relationships rather than observation alone.