Neurological Tissue Dissection Techniques in Mouse Models for Reproducible Scientific Results: Brain, Spinal Cord, CSF, and Sciatic Nerve

Biomedical research studies, specifically regarding human neurodegenerative diseases, are bound by ethical challenges, and have limited diagnostic and treatment options. Transgenic mouse models offer an incredible research advantage to conduct feasible and practical research with the ability to precisely define the progression of neurodegenerative disease over a well-controlled dosage and timeline. The use of transgenic mouse models has been extensive and is critical to advancing research in many ways, including understanding brain morphology and general tissue changes caused by neurological diseases. Often, these studies require specific brain regions or other neurological tissues which may be difficult to obtain. Unfortunately, specific extraction and dissection protocols are few and far between, leading to inconsistent results and a lack of reproducibility. A well-defined protocol, such as this, is instrumental in overcoming these obstacles and acquiring better experimental results. Five mouse-specific protocols are described: brain extraction, brain microdissection, spinal cord extrusion, cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) collection, and sciatic nerve dissection. Each protocol was completed under biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) guidelines, similar to the sterility precautions required in human surgery. Each protocol also includes a collective materials list that defines proper instruments and usage. The protocol was refined based on feedback from numerous research studies in transcriptomics and pharmaceutical development. These applications require minimizing tissue damage, dissection accuracy, and the ability to reproduce the results, skills that are also directly transferable to clinical settings. The proper implementation of these protocols will allow for more accurate and precise results with reduced variability. This study provides well-defined, succinct, accessible protocols that are more ethical and improve the overall quality of the conducted research. By addressing this need, it supports greater advancements in many cross-disciplinary areas.