Cellular / Slice electrophysiology

Scope of the method

The Method relates to
  • Human health
The Method is situated in
  • Basic Research
Type of method
  • In vitro - Ex vivo
This method makes use of
  • Animal derived cells / tissues / organs
Species from which cells/tissues/organs are derived
Mice / Rat
Type of cells/tissues/organs
Brain / Neuronal cell

Description

Method keywords
  • Patch clamp
  • Field potential
  • Brain slice
Scientific area keywords
  • Electrophysiology
  • neuroscience
  • Physiology
Method description

In this method, it is possible to use active/viable animal or human brain slices / cells (normal or disease model) to study the effects of different drugs on brain cells (neuron or glia) in diverse brain region.

Lab equipment
  • Vibration isolation table with Faraday cage ;
  • Signal amplifier ;
  • Digitizer ;
  • Micromanipulator ;
  • IR-DIC Microscope ;
  • Perfusion pump ;
  • Glass pipette microforge.
Method status
  • History of use
  • Published in peer reviewed journal

Pros, cons & Future potential

Advantages
  • Reduce animal use ;
  • Any drugs can be tested before clinical studies ;
  • Possibility of sharing same animal for different experiments depending on target brain regions.
Challenges
  • Require sophisticated instruments which are expensive ;
  • Require long training before successful implementation.

References, associated documents and other information

References

Fanny Sandrine Martineau, Surajit Sahu, Vanessa Plantier, Emmanuelle Buhler, Fabienne Schaller, Lauriane Fournier, Geneviève Chazal, Hiroshi Kawasaki, Alfonso Represa, Françoise Watrin, Jean-Bernard Manent, Correct Laminar Positioning in the Neocortex Influences Proper Dendritic and Synaptic Development, Cerebral Cortex, Volume 28, Issue 8, August 2018, Pages 2976–2990, https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy113

Associated documents
segev2016.pdf

Contact person

Surajit Sahu

Organisations

Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences
Belgium