Getting A-Head! (OLC)

Course overview

Histopathological evaluation of the central nervous system of mice is imperative in toxicological investigations as well as in neurological or neurodegenerative disease model characterization and research. There is a need for standardization of brain sectioning so that histological evaluation is both consistent and thorough. This uniformity increases the sensitivity of detecting histopathology characteristic of disease, toxicology, or neurodegenerative processes. Several published brain sectioning guides are available from individual academics, laboratory groups, and combined academic societies. The disparities across various guides can be difficult to decipher. This seminar will illustrate how and why we developed our current whole mouse and rat head sectioning protocol. The development of our method began with simple sagittal sections and evolved to include evaluation of seven sections encompassing specific anatomic regions necessary for consistent neuropathology evaluation. Laboratory methods including tips and tricks on collection, fixation, trimming, processing, sectioning, and histological evaluation of both rat and mouse brains will be illustrated from the perspectives of the Histologist and Veterinary Pathologist.