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Fig. 1 | BMC Research Notes

Fig. 1

From: A simple, step-by-step dissection protocol for the rapid isolation of mouse dorsal root ganglia

Fig. 1

Dissected DRG can be enzymatically dissociated and grown in culture or sectioned for immunohistochemical analyses. a DRG are clusters of sensory neuron cell bodies located in the dorsal roots of the spinal column. The schematic portrays a transverse section of the spinal column. b Mice possess 8 cervical, 13 thoracic, 5 or 6 lumbar, and 4 sacral DRG pairs totalling 60 or 62 individual ganglia depending on genetic background. The picture depicts the dorsal aspect of the spinal cord and the spinal nerve roots without bilateral DRG for simplicity. c, d Representative images of primary DRG sensory neuron cultures 24 h post-plating. Live cultures imaged by phase contrast microscopy c or fixed neurons imaged by confocal microscopy d can be used to assess various cellular phenotypes including morphology (e.g. cell soma area and axon length), electrophysiology, and protein localisation. Note how quickly DRG neurons extend axonal processes. e Intact DRG can be fixed, embedded in freezing medium, sectioned on a cryostat (thickness of this example 10 μm), and analysed immunohistochemically. βIII-tubulin (a.k.a. Tuj1) is a pan-neuronal marker, while DAPI identifies nuclei. Note that not all DAPI+ cells are Tuj1+, indicating that non-neuronal cells are present in vitro and in vivo. DRG were dissected from one month old wild-type animals (c–e). Scale bars 200 μm

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