Preparation of an Awake Mouse for Recording Neural Responses and Injecting Tracers

The overall aim of this procedure is to record responses from single neurons in an awake mouse. This is accomplished by first anesthetizing the mouse with isof fluorine inhalation, placing the mouse in a rodent stereotaxic frame and exposing the skull. The second step is to locate the brain region of interest using stereotaxic coordinates and mark this region for a subsequent craniotomy.

Next, a custom made head post is mounted onto the skull and the head post is placed in a mounting bar that is attached to a micro manipulator on the stereotaxic apparatus. The final step is to perform a craniotomy to allow an electrode to be inserted into the brain. Once the mouse recovers from the surgery, the mouse is restrained in a foam block.