Visualization of lamina I of the dorsal horn in live adult rat spinal cord slices

Multiple Targets of μ-Opioid Receptor-Mediated Presynaptic Inhibition at Primary Afferent Aδ- and C-Fibers

“…Neurons of the dorsal horn were visualized with "Dodt" infrared optics (Dodt et al, 1998) using a ϫ40, 0.80 waterimmersion objective on an Olympus BX50WI upright microscope equipped with a video camera. Only neurons at a distance of Ͻ20 m from the dorsal white/gray matter border were considered as being lamina I neurons (Chéry et al, 2000) and used for the experiments. This spatial restriction corresponds to the zone in the superficial dorsal horn where the tangential orientation of the neuropil typical of lamina I was observed (Dahlhaus et al, 2005).…”

Integration Time in a Subset of Spinal Lamina I Neurons Is Lengthened by Sodium and Calcium Currents Acting Synergistically to Prolong Subthreshold Depolarization

“…All experiments were performed in accordance with regulations of the Canadian Council on Animal Care. Details of slicing have been described previously by Chéry et al (2000). Briefly, adult male Sprague Dawley rats (Ͼ40 d of age) were anesthetized with an intraperitoneal injection of sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) and perfused intracardially with ice-cold oxygenated (95% O 2 and 5% CO 2 ) sucrosesubstituted artificial CSF (ACSF) containing the following (in mM): 252 sucrose, 2.5 KCl, 2 CaCl 2 , 2 MgCl 2 , 10 glucose, 26 NaHCO 3 , 1.25 NaH 2 PO 4, and 5 kynurenic acid, pH 7.35, 340 -350 mOsm.…”

An ex vivo preparation of mature mice spinal cord to study synaptic transmission on motoneurons

“…The vertebral column was then rapidly removed and immersed in cold (0-4 • C), oxygenated (95% O 2 /5% CO 2 ) dissection artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) (see below for detail). The spinal cord was hydraulically extruded as per (Chery et al, 2000). Briefly, we filled a 5 ml syringe with the dissection ACSF and attached the tip of the syringe to the caudal opening of the vertebral canal.…”

“…In this preparation, the spinal cord is usually excised following laminectomy, during which the spinal cord may be subjected to injury through mechanical disturbance and bleeding. An alternative approach to overcome these problems is hydraulic extrusion of the spinal cord, which can be done much faster than by laminectomy (Chery et al, 2000).…”

“…The use of mice has advantages because of the increasing availability of various transgenic models. We have adopted the hydraulic extrusion technique previously described by Chery et al (2000) for rats. Some preliminary data of this work have appeared in abstract form (Moghaddasi et al, 2005).…”