Rat Brain Dissection/Tissue sectioning

Question 1

what are possible methods for brain tissue sectioning

Answer 1

1. vibrating microtome
2. embedding in paraffin to store
3. brain can be frozen

Question 2

In this lab we froze the brain before sectioning. How?

Answer 2

the brain was placed in a sucrose and sodium phosphate buffer solution till it sunk and then frozen in methylbutane at -30c

Question 3

what does sucrose do to help with the freezing process

Answer 3

it pulls water from the brain tissue protecting the tissue from exhibiting a crystal effect

Question 4

what can the temp being too cold during the freezing process cause

Answer 4

it can cause the brain to split

Question 5

what can the brain being too warm during the freezing process cause

Answer 5

ice crystals will form causing the brain to look like swiss cheese

Question 6

what cuts the brain

Answer 6

a cryostat or freezing microtome

Question 7

how are tissue sections mounted

Answer 7

tissue is placed in a phosphate buffer based mounting medium in a large petri dish. a paint brush is used to mount the slides onto glass microscope slides.

Question 8

the slides that tissue is mountain on are treated to attract the tissue. how?

Answer 8

the slides are treated to give them a positive charge with polylysine so the negatively charged tissue will stick