VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

Isolation of Cerebrospinal Fluid from Rodent Embryos for use with Dissected Cerebral Cortical Explants

Mauro W. Zappaterra¹, Anthony S. LaMantia², Christopher A. Walsh^3,4, Maria K. Lehtinen⁵

¹Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, ²Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, Institute for Neuroscience, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, ³Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, ⁴Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston Children's Hospital, ⁵Department of Pathology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School

The ventricular cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bathes the neuroepithelial and cerebral cortical progenitor cells during early brain development in the embryo. Here we describe the method developed to isolate ventricular CSF from rodent embryos of different ages in order to investigate its biological function. In addition, we demonstrate our cerebral cortical explant dissection and culture technique that allows for explant growth with minimal volumes of culture medium or CSF.

Biology

Oropharyngeal Administration of Bleomycin in the Murine Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis

Richard L. Watson^1,2, Wing Yi Lung¹, Steven J. Bensinger³, John A. Belperio¹

¹Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, ²Department of Medicine, Pulmonary & Critical Care Section, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, ³Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles

This protocol demonstrates the oropharyngeal aspiration technique for use in the bleomycin murine model of pulmonary fibrosis.