Co-culturing of Ventral Hippocampal and Nucleus Accumbens
Transcription
Begin with a postnatal mouse brain coronal section containing a ventral hippocampal region, an area within the brain's lower region.
Cut the ventral hippocampal tissue and transfer it to a suitable medium.
Slice the tissue into smaller pieces and let them attach to a matrix-coated coverslip in a multiwell plate.
The neurons from the tissue begin extending projections.
Next, take a mouse embryo-derived nucleus accumbens, a small tissue deep inside the forebrain.
Cut the nucleus accumbens tissue into small pieces. Transfer them to a tube.
Add digestion enzymes to dissociate the extracellular matrix proteins. Wash to reduce enzyme levels.
Pipette the tissue pieces up and down to generate single cells.
Centrifuge the cells. Remove the supernatant and resuspend the cells.
Add this suspension to the coverslip with the ventral hippocampal tissues and incubate.
The nerve endings from the ventral hippocampal tissue piece connect with the neuronal cells of the nucleus accumbens, forming a communication junction called a synapse.
