Dissection of Palate Tissue from Adult Murine Model: A Surgical Procedure to Harvest Hard Palate and Soft Palate from Oral Cavity of Adult Mouse

Abstract

Source: Xuan Ngo, Y. et al. Isolation and Culture of Primary Oral Keratinocytes from the Adult Mouse Palate. J. Vis. Exp. (2021)

This video demonstrates a surgical procedure to dissect the palate tissue from a murine model.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Dissection of Palate Tissue from Adult Mouse

1. Sacrifice an adult C57BL/6J mouse (either male or female) by cervical dislocation in compliance with the facility's regulations relating to animal welfare.
   1. Remove the hair around the mouth with a shaver. Using scissors, cut from the cheek toward the jaw, on both sides.
      NOTE: The mouse needs to be anesthetized before sacrifice. An anesthetic mixture of medetomidine, midazolam, and butorphanol is used (see Table of Materials).
2. Use forceps to open the mouth wide and absorb any blood using a cotton swab. To disinfect the palate, wipe the inside of the mouth with a cotton swab containing 10% povidone-iodine.
3. To harvest the mouse palate, first, use a surgical scalpel blade to make a full-thickness marginal incision along the palate side of the maxillary teeth. Then, carefully dissect the entire palate using a raspatorium.
   NOTE: A raspatorium is a tool used to elevate a mucoperiosteal flap (see Table of Materials) (Figure 1B).
4. Quickly transfer the palate tissue to a 15 mL tube containing 4 mL of complete medium + antibiotic-antimycotic solution. Keep the tissues on ice until ready for incubation.
   NOTE: For collection from multiple mice, palate tissues may be kept on ice for up to 4 h.

Results

Figure 1: Overview of the dissection procedure and isolation of mouse oral keratinocytes. (A) Schematic representation of the mouse oral cavity. (B) Instruments used to dissect the palate and isolate mous...

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Iris Scissors	Muromachi Kikai	14090-09
Medetomidine	Nippon Zenyaku Kogyo		Domitor
Midazolam	Astellas Pharma		Dormicum
No.15 Disposable scalpel	Feather	219AABZX00136000
Butorphanol	Meiji Seika Pharma		Vetorphale
Half-curved forceps	BRC Bio Research Center	PRI13-3376
Povidone-iodine	Y's Square	872612
Raspatorium #14	AS ONE	8-4599-01
Fine forceps	BRC Bio Research Center	PRI13-3374
Antibiotic-Antimycotic 100x	Gibco	15240062
15 mL sterile conical tube	Falcon	352096
Cotton	AS ONE	63-1452-97
EpiLife Defined Growth Supplement (EDGS) 	Gibco 	S0120