title: Analyzing Structural Plasticity of Dendritic Spines in Organotypic Slice Culture.
abstract: Understanding the rules of synapse dynamics in the context of development, learning, and nervous system disorders is an important part of several fields of neuroscience. Despite significant methodological advances, observations of structural dynamics of synapses still present a significant experimental challenge. In this chapter we describe a set of techniques that allow repetitive observations of synaptic structures in vitro in organotypic cultures of rodent hippocampus. We describe culturing of slices, transfection with reporter-carrying plasmids, repetitive imaging of dendritic spines with confocal laser scanning microscopy and analysis of spine morphology dynamics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland. mathias.deroo@unige.ch.|Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Intensive Care, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. mathias.deroo@unige.ch.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Roo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, 136 Harrison Avenue, ST 209, Boston, MA, USA. adema.ribic@tufts.edu.
authors.forename: Adema
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ribic
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000502:physiology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D051381:Rats; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Confocal imaging; Dendritic spine; Hippocampus; Organotypic culture; Plasticity; Synaptogenesis; Transfection