Electrophysiological Evaluation of Synaptic Plasticity in Injured CNS - Animal Models of Acute Neurological Injuries: Injury and Mechanistic Assessments - page 118

intracellular signaling pathways, and compare corresponding
anatomical alterations in axon and dendrites of individual recorded
neurons.
Sections 3 and 4 of this chapter present a detailed discussion
on the techniques of FPR and patch clamp recording; this section
introduces the ways to use these electrophysiological methods to
evaluate synaptic plasticity in CNS injury, with a focus on using
FPR to evaluate short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity.

2. Materials
and Instruments

2.1. Instruments
for Brain Slice
Preparation

1. Dissecting instruments, including scissors, forceps, scalpel and
blade, spatula, Pasteur pipette, small paintbrush, 50-mm glass
Petri dish, and 50-ml beaker (Fig. 1a ).
2. Vibratome (Fig. 1b ; Leica VT1200, Leica Microsystem).
3. A water bath (preheated to 32°C) holding a submerge cham-
ber for slice incubation (Fig. 2d ).
4. Blades (Gillette) and super glue (Fig. 1a , b).

1. Sutter P-97 micropipette puller (Fig. 3a , Sutter Instruments). 2.2. Instruments

for Field Potential
Recording

2. Stereo microscopy (American Scope).
3. DP 304 Differential amplifi er (Warner Instruments).
4. Axon Digidata 1440 A/D-D/A board (Molecular Devices).
5. Analog stimulation isolator (Model 2200, A&M systems).
6. Interface chamber (Fig. 3b , Warner Instruments, W3 65-0073
and W3 65-0075).
7. Two micromanipulators (Fig. 3b , Scientifi ca or Warner
instruments).

Fig. 1. Instruments for brain slice preparation. ( a ) Dissecting tools for brain slice preparation. ( b ) A Vibratome (Leica VT1200)
has been set up for slicing.