Abstract
The human brain is an exceptionally heterogeneous structure. In order to gain insight into the neurobiological basis of neural circuit disturbances in various neurologic or psychiatric diseases, it is often important to define the molecular cascades that are associated with these disturbances in a neuronal type-specific manner. This can be achieved by the use of laser microdissection, in combination with molecular techniques such as gene expression profiling. To identify neurons in human postmortem brain tissue, one can use the inherent properties of the neuron, such as pigmentation and morphology or its structural composition through immunohistochemistry (IHC). Here, we describe the isolation of homogeneous neuronal cells and high-quality RNA from human postmortem brain material using a combination of rapid IHC, Nissl staining, or simple morphology with Laser-Capture Microdissection (LCM) or Laser Microdissection (LMD).
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Notes
- 1.
Protocol originally published in JoVE: Pietersen CY, Lim MP, Woo TUW (2009). Obtaining High Quality RNA from Single Cell Populations in Human Postmortem Brain Tissue. JoVE. http://www.jove.com/index/details.stp?id=1444 , doi: 10.3791/1444.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by NIH grants MH080272 and MH076060 (Woo) and R21NS067335 (Sonntag).
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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Pietersen, C.Y., Lim, M.P., Macey, L., Woo, TU.W., Sonntag, K.C. (2011). Neuronal Type-Specific Gene Expression Profiling and Laser-Capture Microdissection. In: Murray, G. (eds) Laser Capture Microdissection. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 755. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-163-5_28
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-163-5_28
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