Cryosectioning of Contiguous Regions of a Single Mouse Skeletal Muscle for Gene Expression and Histological Analyses

Summary

Consecutive cryo-sections are collected to enable histological applications and enrichment of RNA for gene expression measurements using adjacent regions from a single mouse skeletal muscle. High-quality RNA is obtained from 20 - 30 mg of pooled cryosections and measurements are directly compared across applications.

Abstract

With this method, consecutive cryosections are collected to enable both microscopy applications for tissue histology and enrichment of RNA for gene expression using adjacent regions from a single mouse skeletal muscle. Typically, it is challenging to achieve adequate homogenization of small skeletal muscle samples because buffer volumes may be too low for efficient grinding applications, yet without sufficient mechanical disruption, the dense tissue architecture of muscle limits penetration of buffer reagents, ultimately causing low RNA yield. By following the protocol reported here, 30 μm sections are collected and pooled allowing cryosectioning and subsequent needle homogenization to mechanically disrupt the muscle, increasing the surface area exposed for buffer penetration. The primary limitations of the technique are that it requires a cryostat, and it is relatively low throughput. However, high-quality RNA can be obtained from small samples of pooled muscle cryosections, making this method accessible for many different skeletal muscles and other tissues. Furthermore, this technique enables matched analyses (e.g., tissue histopathology and gene expression) from adjacent regions of a single skeletal muscle so that measurements can be directly compared across applications to reduce experimental uncertainty and to reduce replicative animal experiments necessary to source a small tissue for multiple applications.

Introduction

The goal of this technique is to make multiple experimental analyses by different modalities, such as histology and gene expression, accessible from a single small skeletal muscle source tissue. Microscopy applications are the most sensitive to sample preservation methods, which must be carefully controlled to limit the formation of ice crystal artifacts during cryopreservation. Thus, method development is based on the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle frozen partially covered with embedding resin in a -140 °C liquid nitrogen-cooled 2-methylbutane bath as the source material for both immunofluorescence microscopy and gene expression analyses.

Protocol

All animal procedures were approved by the University of Georgia Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee under animal use protocol A2013 07-016 (Beedle).

1. Cryopreservation of Unfixed Skeletal Muscle

1. Preparation
   1. Cut cork into small squares (approximately 1 cm x 1 cm) with a razor blade, write on the cork with a fine tip marker that is resistant to 2-methylbutane to identify the source mouse and muscle, and make a very shallow cut (approximately 1 mm) across the top surface. Insert a plastic coverslip into the cut to use for orienting the tissue. Repeat until a cork is ready for every tissue to be cryopreserved.
   2. Obtain liq....

Results

Muscle cryosection RNA is high in quality and provides sufficient yield for most applications

Analyses of sixteen skeletal muscle RNA preparations are shown in Table 1 using 19.4 to 41 mg of pooled tibialis anterior (TA) muscle from 8 control mice. Both left (L) and right (R) TA muscles were prepared in regeneration experiments with muscles collected 3 days after longitudinal intramuscular injection of 25 μl of sal.......

Discussion

To achieve best results with this method, keep embedding resin restricted to the lower third or half of the muscle during tissue cryopreservation because excess resin will slow the collection of the pooled cryosections and may increase embedding resin contamination in the RNA isolation. Also, careful attention during needle homogenization is important to maximize yield and minimize the probability of clogging the needle. The protocol may be modified by using a Luer-Lok syringe to protect against sample loss if the needle.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Cork	VWR Scientific	23420-708	Cut into small squares with a sharp blade.
Plastic coverslip	Fisher Scientific	12-547	Used to orient the muscle during freezing.
Low temperature thermometer	VWR Scientific	89370-158
2-methylbutane	Sigma	M32631-4L	Caution: hazardous chemical. Store in flammable cabinet.
Embedding resin: "cryomatrix"	Thermo Fisher Scientific	6769006	Other embedding resins can be substituted for cryomatrix.
Cryostat	Thermo Fisher Scientific	microm HM550 with disposable blade carrier	Any working cryostat should be sufficient for the protocol.
Disposable cryostat blade	Thermo Fisher Scientific	3052835	Use an appropriate blade or knife for the cryostat to be used.
RNAse decontamination solution: "RNase Zap"	Thermo Fisher Scientific	AM9780
Analytical balance	Mettler Toledo	XS64
Paint brush	Daler Rowney	214900920	Use to handle cryosections. Can be found with in stores with simple art supplies.
Razor blade	VWR Scientific	55411-050
Microscope slide	VWR Scientific	48311600
RNA organic extraction reagent: TRIzol	Thermo Fisher Scientific	15596026	Caution: TRIzol is a hazardous chemical. Note: Only organic extraction reagents are recommended for RNA extraction from skeletal muscle.
18 gauge needle	VWR Scientific	BD305185
22 gauge needle	VWR Scientific	BD305155
26 gauge needle	VWR Scientific	BD305115	Optional. Can be used for a third round of sample trituration in the RNA extraction protocol.
1 ml syringe	VWR Scientific	BD309659	For very high value samples, a Luer-Lok syringe is recommended (e.g., VWR BD309628).
1-bromo-3-chloropentane (BCP)	Sigma	B9673
For 70% ethanol in DEPC water: 200 proof alcohol	Decon Laboratories, Inc.	+M18027161M	Mix 35 ml 200 proof alcohol + 15 ml DEPC water.
For 70% ethanol in DEPC water: DEPC-treated water	Thermo Fisher Scientific	AM9922	Mix 35 ml 200 proof alcohol + 15 ml DEPC water.
RNA purification kit: PureLink RNA minikit	Thermo Fisher Scientific	12183018A	Final steps of RNA preparation.
DNase/Rnase-free water	Gibco	10977	DEPC-treated water can also be used.
Spectrophotometer: Nanodrop 2000	Thermo Fisher Scientific	NanoDrop 2000
Dnase I	Thermo Fisher Scientific	AM2222	Treat purified RNA to remove any DNA contamination before downstream appications.
Hydrophobic pen	Thermo Fisher Scientific	8899
Dulbecco's PBS	Gibco	14190	PBS for immunofluorescence protocol.
Donkey serum	Jackson ImmunoResearch Laoratories, Inc	017-000-121	Rehydrate normal donkey serum stock according to the manufacturer's instructions, then dilute an aliquot to 5% for immunofluorescence.  Normal goat serum can also be used.
eMHC antibody	University of Iowa Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank	F1.652
Collagen VI antibody	Fitzgerald Industries	#70R-CR009x
Donkey anti-rabbit AlexaFluor488	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A21206
Goat anti-mouse IgG1 AlexaFluor546	Thermo Fisher Scientific	A21123
DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole)	Thermo Fisher Scientific	D1306
Aqueous mounting media: Permafluor	Thermo Fisher Scientific	TA-030-FM	Only use mounting media designed for fluorescent applications with anti-fade properties.
Glass coverslip	VWR Scientific	16004-314	Use for mounting slides at the end of immunofluorescence protocl
Image analysis software: ImageProExpress	Media Cybernetics, Inc.	Image-Pro Express, or more advanced products	Freeware ImageJ should also work for manual counting. More advanced software with segmentation abiities may allow partial automation of the process; e.g., ImageProPremier.
Merge and map section images: Photoshop	Adobe	Photoshop
Cardiotoxin	Sigma	C9659	Sigma C9659 has been discontinued. Other options for cardiotoxin are EMD Millipore #217503; American Custom Chemicals Corp. # BIO0000618; or Ge Script # RP17303; but these have not been validated.
reverse transcription kit: Superscript III First-strand synthesis system	Thermo Fisher Scientific	18080051	Any validated, high quality reverse transcription reagents can be used.
Standard PCR: GoTaq Flexi polymerase system	Promega	M8298	Any validated, high quality Taq polymerase system can be used. If DNA sequencing is to be used for any application downstream of the PCR, then a high fidelity PCR system should be used instead.
SYBR green	Thermo Fisher Scientific	S7585	For use in qPCR when not using a dedicated qPCR master mix. Use with SuperROX (for Applied Biosystems instruments) and GoTaq Flexi polymerase and buffers.
ROX: SuperROX, 15 mM	BioResearch Technologies, Inc. Novato CA	SR-1000-10	SuperROX is more stable in the PCR reaction, so it is preferred for use as a qPCR passive reference dye over ROX (carboxy-X-rhodamine). For qPCR with Applied Biosystems instruments
Real-time PCR	Applied Biosystems	7900HT