High-quality total RNA has been prepared from cell bodies of mouse spinal cord motor neurons by laser capture microdissection after staining spinal cord sections with Azure B in 70% ethanol. Sufficient RNA (~40-60 ng) is recovered from 3,000-4,000 motor neurons to allow downstream RNA analysis by RNA-seq and qRT-PCR.
Bandyopadhyay, U., Fenton, W. A., Horwich, A. L., Nagy, M. Production of RNA for Transcriptomic Analysis from Mouse Spinal Cord Motor Neuron Cell Bodies by Laser Capture Microdissection. J. Vis. Exp. (83), e51168, doi:10.3791/51168 (2014).