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Tue 8 Mar, 2011 08:19 am
"slices of mouse brain"? Look pieces of dead mouse brain. But logically the mouse should be alive. What does "slice" mean here?
Context:
When the researchers transplanted the neurons they had engineered into slices of mouse brain, the cells wove themselves into the tissue of the hippocampus, a brain region involved in the formation of memories. They then began producing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is necessary for memory retrieval.
@oristarA,
In this case, it means a thin layer. More generally, it means a piece cut from the whole.
@oristarA,
Most likely they take a slice from a living brain or a very recent living brain.
That slice will eventually die but not before they can see the results of transplanting their neurons.
@parados,
parados wrote:
Most likely they take a slice from a living brain or a very recent living brain.
That slice will eventually die but not before they can see the results of transplanting their neurons.
So in dish the slices began producing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine? It sounds unlikely.
Since the mouse had to die, the scientists could test in a living mouse, not necessary working in dish.
@engineer,
engineer wrote:
In this case, it means a thin layer. More generally, it means a piece cut from the whole.
Yeah, a thin layer in the LIVING mouse!
@oristarA,
oristarA wrote:
Yeah, a thin layer in the LIVING mouse!
In a slice of a dead mouse's brain, I believe. Why should the mouse need to be alive?
Where do you come up with all these goofy questions, Home Slice?
@oristarA,
It may sound unlikely but similar things are done all the time.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100615093246.htm
Quote:networks of brain cells kept alive in culture
http://live.psu.edu/story/49758
http://today.uconn.edu/?p=5719
Quote:With live colonies of neurons in a dish, we can study
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6573-brain-cells-in-a-dish-fly-fighter-plane.html
Quote:Enzymes were used to extract neurons from the motor cortex of mature rat embryos and cells were then seeded onto a grid of gold electrodes patterned on a glass Petri dish. The cells grew microscopic interconnections, turning them into a "live computation device",
http://www.icyou.com/topics/diseases-conditions/brain-cancer/scientists-building-better-brain-tissue-lab+
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