JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments
Neuroscience
0 views • 4:26 min • July 8th, 2025
Begin with an anesthetized mouse with exposed dorsal skin. Disinfect the area and cover it.
Make a midline incision from the neck to just above the tail.
Pull the left-side skin to create a skin flap and expose the underlying tissue.
Place the mouse under a microscope and locate the sensory nerves.
Carefully pull and remove these nerves without disrupting the blood vessels.
Moisten the tissue and remove the remaining nerves from the skin flap, creating a denervated area.
On the right side, leave the nerves intact as a control. Suture the skin incision.
Allow the mouse to recover.
To assess stable denervation several weeks after surgery, use the same denervated mouse with shaved dorsal skin.
Using a needle, prick at the control area, generating a mechanical stimulation.
This excites the underlying nerves, sending a signal to the brain and causing the mouse to respond.
However, pricking the denervated area fails to generate a response, confirming the role of sensory nerves.
Anesthetize the animal. Shave the entire dorsal skin and clean the area similar to the biopsy procedure. Now, make an incision using a sterile scalpel along the dorsal midline from the base of the neck, to roughly
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