Prenatal and Postnatal Determinants of Development by David W. Walker

Author:David W. Walker
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer New York, New York, NY

3.4 Isolating the VTA and NAc from the Whole Brain

The VTA and NAc are relatively small brain regions, and the isolation process is much easier if the brain is partially frozen. When the whole brain has been removed from the skull, it should be placed on a glass dish which has been pre-cooled and sitting on a bed of dry ice. Once the brain is partially frozen, to the point where it is solid enough to cut without distortion but not so hard that the scalpel has difficulty moving through it, then you can begin dissecting. First, the brain can be cut into half vertically down the midline; this way one half of the brain can be used for sectioning (fixed in 4 % paraformaldehyde) and the other for the isolation of the desired brain areas. See Fig. 2 for a representation of key landmarks for start of cutting.

Fig. 2Photograph of the ventral base of the brain indicating the key landmarks used for identifying starting points for dissection of the individual brain regions (NAc and VTA)

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