title: Thinking of Co²⁺-staining explant tissue or cultured cells? How to make it reliable and specific.
abstract: Ca(2+) and/or Zn(2+) entry into neurons and glial cells is often a key step driving the processes of neurodevelopment and disease. As a result, a major pre-occupation of many neuroscientists has been in tracking down when and where nervous tissues express ion channels with appreciable divalent ion permeability. The cobalt (Co(2+))-staining technique is one of the few techniques that allow a snapshot of the entire neuronal circuit, and selectively labels cells expressing divalent-permeable ion channels with a brown-black precipitate. Despite this, its use has been remarkably limited in the past decade. Reluctance to employ this approach has largely been related to an earlier concern with obtaining a reliable and reproducible means of visualizing transported Co(2+). Here we show that recent advances have resolved these issues, opening this straightforward and valuable technique to a much larger neuroscience audience.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark R P
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Aurousseau
authors.forename: Ingrid K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Osswald
authors.forename: Derek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bowie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003035:Cobalt; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000378:metabolism*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010539:Permeability; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016622:Silver Staining; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D003035:Cobalt