Spinal cord surgery set

In addition to brain imaging, it is possible to use the Mobile HomeCage devices for longitudinal imaging in the spinal cord of awake behaving mice. For maximal stability, we recommend using Neurotar’s spinal cord surgery set.

Options

• 

• 

• 

• One plate set includes a spinal plate, two holders, four screws, and a pair of instruments. 
• Five-plate set includes 5 spinal plates, 10 holders, 20 screws, and a pair of instruments;
• Ten-plage set includes 10 spinal plages, 20 holders, 40 screws, and a pair of instruments.

All parts are precision manufactured out of stainless steel.

Useful tips

Imaging in the spinal cord is particularly challenging with respect to stability. We recommend using Neurotar’s locomotion tracking software to divide the data into two subsets: data acquired during voluntary stillness (idle periods) and data acquired during active locomotion. With proper surgery and training, you can expect to achieve the displacement values between 1.3-2.8 micrometers during idle periods. The stability during active locomotion is lower and the variation is more pronounced: in our experiments, the displacement values vary between 2.3-8.7 micrometers.

Credit

The spinal cord imaging set is an adaptation of a set of tools described in the 2014 Jove article by Farrar. M.J. and Schaffer C.B. A Procedure for Implanting a Spinal Chamber for Longitudinal In Vivo Imaging of the Mouse Spinal Cord.