Tissue chopper method

The vibratome and tissue chopper methods are two major techniques used to slice tissue blocks. The vibratome seems to produce better slices and is gaining popularity. The available commercial vibratomes include the Vibratome series from Technical Products International (St. Louis, MO), and the Vibroslice... 

Some authors isolate the hippocampus in a way as described in the tissue chopper method. The middle portion of the hippocampus is cut out and mounted onto the vibratome slicing stage with cyanoacrylate glue In our opinion, the tissue block method described in this chapter is superior, since it reduces the direct handling of the hippocampus. 

Preparation of brain slices is an indispensable procedure for a variety of experiments. The goal of the slice preparation is to obtain a thin piece of brain tissue containing the cells of interest and to maintain the slice in a viable (although artificial) condition that is similar to its in vivo environment. In this chapter we describe procedures that are fundamental for brain slice preparation. Because the hippocampus is the most widely used tissue for brain slices, Its isolation will be used here to illustrate the steps of the procedure. Two slicing methods, using either a vibratome or a tissue chopper, are described. Our discussion of these methods covers the steps from the decapitation of the animal to the storage of slices in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF). Some of the... 

The quality of the slice depends to a certain extent on the method used to prepare the slices (40,41). Using the Mcllwain tissue chopper it is possible to prepare lOO-pm thick slices. These are tedious to work with. However, slices of 300- jm thickness can, with some care, be bandied routinely. Furthermore, 300- am presents a thickness that is acceptable in terms of oxygen supply to the deeper layers of the slice (42,43). 

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