Acute Mouse Brain Slicing to Investigate Spontaneous Hippocampal Network Activity

Using this protocol, researchers can investigate the mechanisms underlying hippocampal network oscillations in acute mouse brain slice preparations. In this preparation, recordings are performed under submerged conditions in slices generating spontaneous network oscillations, allowing pharmacological and optogenetic techniques to be performed, and single-cell recordings to be visualized. For transcardial perfusion, immediately before removing the mouse from the isoflurane chamber, fill a Petri dish lid with three to five millimeters of chilled sucrose solution, and fill the Petri dish bottom with approximately one centimeter of chilled sucrose solution.

Quickly transfer the anesthetized mouse to the left absorbent pad, and use three pieces of tape to secure the forelimbs and tail. Using large tissue forceps and surgical scissors, tent the skin and make a lengthwise incision from the bottom of the sternum to the top of the chest. Use the forceps to pull up on the sternum and use the scissors to cut through the diaphragm.

Use the scissors to cut through the rib cage on each side in one large motion toward the point at which the forelimb meets the body, and use the forceps to position the front of the rib cage toward the head. Use the scissors to make a horizontal cut to completely remove the ribs, and use the forceps to hold the heart in place while inserting a 20-gauge perfusion needle into the left ventricle. When the needle is in place, use small dissection scissors to make an incision in the right atrium, and allow the blood to be flushed out of the circulatory system.

To extract the brain, after decapitation, use small bond scissors to make two lateral cuts through the skull toward the midline at the front of the skull near the eyes, and make two additional cuts on either side of the base of the skull. Immerse the head in the glass Petri dish, and use the scissors to cut along the midline across the entire length of the skull, while pulling up with the scissors to minimize damage to the underlying brain tissue. Use small tissue forceps to firmly grasp each side of the skull, and to lift the bone up and away from the brain to open the cranium like a book.

Using the fingers of the left hand to hold the flaps of the skull open, insert the microspatula under the brain near the olfactory bulbs, and flip the brain out of the skull into the sucrose. Use the microspatula to sever the brainstem, and wash the brain to remove any residual blood, fur, or tissues. Use the large spatula to transfer the brain to the glass Petri dish lid, and use half of a double-edged razor blade to make a coronal cut in the most anterior portion of the brain, including the olfactory bulbs.

Next, make a coronal cut to remove the cerebellum, and apply cyanoacrylate adhesive to an agar ramp. Use forceps to briefly dry the brain on a piece of filter paper, before placing the tissue into the adhesive on the agar ramp, ventral-side down. Place the slicing platform into the slicing chamber of a microtome, and completely cover the setup with chilled sucrose solution.

Use the large spatula to stir some sucrose slurry into the chamber, melting any frozen sucrose and rapidly bringing down the mixture temperature to one to two degrees Celsius. Cut slices to a thickness of 450 microns at 0.07 millimeters per second slicing speed. As each slice is freed, use the small-tissue forceps and a sharp scalpel to separate the two hemispheres, and to cut away tissue until the slice consists primarily of the hippocampus and perihippocampal regions.

Use a plastic transfer pipette to transfer the slices individually to an interface recovery chamber containing warmed aCSF. With the slices positioned at the interface of the aCSF and air, and with only a thin meniscus of aCSF covering the slices. When all of the slices have been acquired, tightly close the chamber to allow the slices to recover at 32 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.

At the end of the recovery period, place the chamber on a stirrer set to a slow speed to promote aCSF circulation within the chamber. To record local field potentials, fill a 400 milliliter beaker with carbogen-bubbled aCSF, and place one end of the pump tubing into the beaker. Turn on a peristaltic pump at 8 to 10 milliliters per minute to direct aCSF from the 400 milliliter beaker to a heated reservoir, and from the reservoir to the recording chamber at 32 degrees Celsius.

Next, briefly clamp the tubing and turn off the pump to pause the flow. Using fine forceps, transfer a brain tissue slice to the recording chamber by the corner of the lens paper the tissue is resting on, slice down. Peel away the lens paper, leaving the slice emerged in the recording chamber, and use a harp to secure the slice.

Using a manual micromanipulator, slowly advance the tip of a sodium chloride-filled stimulation pipette into the surface of the slice at a 30 to 45 degree angle, then use a second micromanipulator to slowly advance the tip of an aCSf-filled local field potential pipette into the region of interest at a 30 to 45 degree angle, and record the local field potential of the sample according to standard protocols. In this figure, representative recordings from hippocampal entorhinal cortex slices, prepared according to the protocol as demonstrated, can be observed. In healthy slices, electrical stimulation should produce a field post-synaptic potential with a small pre-synaptic fiber volley and a large post-synaptic potential with a rapid initial descent.

Spontaneous sharp-wave ripples should also be visible as positive deflections in the local field potential in the stratum pyramidale. In suboptimal slices, evoked field post-synaptic potentials demonstrate a large fiber volley, and a relatively small post-synaptic potential, and such slices do not exhibit spontaneous sharp-wave ripples. In vitro sharp-wave ripples demonstrate a positive field potential in the stratum pyramidale layer, with an overlaid high-frequency oscillation paired with a negative field potential in the stratum radiatum layer.

As illustrated, sharp-wave ripples in hippocampal entorhinal cortex slices originate within CA2/CA3 recurrent circuits, and propagate to CA1. It is essential to bubble carbogen into the solutions throughout the procedure, to ensure that the sucrose solution is chilled, and to perform each step as quickly as possible. After preparing these slices, extracellular or intracellular recordings can be performed, along with optogenetic or pharmacological experiments to determine how different cell types contribute to the function of neural networks.