[Histonet] Whole brain perfusion of mice

[Mr Andrew Tuck]

Hi 

I was looking to use micro CT (computer tomography X ray) to examine
newborn (P0) mice brains. The area we are most interested in is
measuring the ventricle size in these animals. However we also want to
look at the size and shape of other regions such as fiber tracts,
etc..In the past this was done by doing 50um slices, putting these on
slides, photographing the slices and using software to calculate the
ventricle size.

Using micro CT offers the opportunity to image a whole intact brain.
However, in the first scan we performed of a fixed mouse brain you could
see the shaodw outline of the brain but no internal detail. Osmium
tetroxide is the heavy metal of choice to produce good X ray contrast,
but does anyone know how you can perfuse an entire intact brain with it
? I have not been able to find any protocols, or previous articles which
have done this. Also I have read that osmium does not penetrate whole
tissue very well. If this is the case, is there another fixative that
would give good X ray contrast and penetrate the tissue well?


Thanks

Andrew Tuck
Research Assistant
Queensland Centre for Schizophrenia Research
School of Biomedical Sciences 
University of Queensland
Australia
Tel: 07 3346 2368