Exposure of the Pig CNS for Histological Analysis: A Manual for Decapitation, Skull Opening, and Brain Removal

Overview

Journal J Vis Exp

Specialties Biology
General Medicine

Date 2017 Apr 28

PMID 28447999

Citations 10

Authors

Carsten R Bjarkam

Dariusz Orlowski

Laura Tvilling

Johannes Bech

Andreas N Glud

Jens-Christian H Sorensen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Pigs have become increasingly popular in large-animal translational neuroscience research as an economically and ethically feasible substitute to non-human primates. The large brain size of the pig allows the use of conventional clinical brain imagers and the direct use and testing of neurosurgical procedures and equipment from the human clinic. Further macroscopic and histological analysis, however, requires postmortem exposure of the pig central nervous system (CNS) and subsequent brain removal. This is not an easy task, as the pig CNS is encapsulated by a thick, bony skull and spinal column. The goal of this paper and instructional video is to describe how to expose and remove the postmortem pig brain and the pituitary gland in an intact state, suitable for subsequent macroscopic and histological analysis.

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