Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience 1 article published in JoVE Neuroscience Quantifying Spontaneous Ca2+ Fluxes and their Downstream Effects in Primary Mouse Midbrain Neurons Eric A. Bancroft1, Rahul Srinivasan1,2 1Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, College of Medicine, 2Texas A&M Institute for Neuroscience Here we present a protocol to measure in vitro Ca2+ fluxes in midbrain neurons and their downstream effects on caspase-3 using primary mouse midbrain cultures. This model can be employed to study pathophysiologic changes related to abnormal Ca2+ activity in midbrain neurons, and to screen novel therapeutics for anti-apoptotic properties.