Abstract:

Objective     To explore the distribution of mesostriatal dopaminergic neurons and to establish an effective method to isolate those cells which play key roles in Parkinson′s disease.  Methods     With stereotaxic apparatus, green retro-beads were accurately injected into the striatum of newborn rats. After 24h, the brains of the rats were collected and cut into frozen sections after perfusion and fixation. Then dopaminergic neurons were detected by immunohistochemical staining of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). And green retro-beads-labeled and TH-positive neurons were isolated by the technique of laser-microdissection. ResultsMesostriatal neurons could be labeled with green retro-beads and immunohistochemiscal staining of TH, and were mainly located in the substantia nigra. Moreover, the labeled mesostriatal neurons could be isolated and collected by the technique of laser-micro-dissection. Conclusion     Combination of neural retrograde tracing and the laser-micro-dissection technique is an effective and accurate method to isolate mesostriatal dopaminergic neurons.

Key words: Dopaminergic neurons; Neural retrograde tracing; Laser-microdissection technique