Nervous System Cell Preparations: Microdissection and Micromanipulation

Abstract

A classic approach to the elucidation of any complex structure, whether it be a living organism or an inanimate body, is to separate the component parts and study them in isolation. The degree of structural complexity of nervous systems and the consequent difficulty in interpreting gross observations, both morphological and functional, has stimulated numerous attempts to isolate individual units. More than 100 years ago Deiters (1865) published drawings of neurons which he had dissected from parts of the nervous system. The most striking drawings are those of cells he dissected from the anterior horn of spinal cord. In more recent years cells prepared by hand dissection have been the subject of many studies, the most prominent being those of Lowry (1952, 1953, 1956), Giacobini (1956, 1959, 1962, 1964), and Hydén (1959, 1960, 1964). Chemical and biochemical studies of single cells are limited by the sensitivity of the analytical methods available and ways have been sought to obtain cells in greater number and by less laborious techniques than hand dissection.