Abstract
Background Implanted osmotic minipumps are commonly used for long-term, brain-targeted delivery of a wide range of experimental agents by being connected to a catheter and a cannula. During the stereotactical surgery procedure, the cannula has to be placed correctly in the x-y directions and also with respect to the injection point in the z-direction (deepness). However, the flat fixation base of available cannula holders doesn't allow an easy, secure fixation onto the curve-shaped skull. New method We have developed a modified method for a better fixation of the cannula holder by using an easy-to-produce, skull-shaped silicone spacer as fixation adapter. Results We describe the application and its fast and reliable production in the lab. Comparison with existing method(s) Superglue or cement is currently being used as the method of choice. However, the curve-shaped skull surface does not fit well with the flat and rigid cannula adapter which leads to fixation problems over time causing wide infusion channels and often also to leakage problems from intracerebrally applied agents towards the surface meninges. As another consequence of the inappropriate fixation, the cannula may loosen from the skull before the end of the experiment or it causes damage to the brain tissue, harming the animals with leading to a failure of the whole experiment. Conclusions The easy-to-produce spacer facilitates the crucial step of long-term, stereotactic brain infusion experiments with intracerebral catheters in a highly secure and reproducible way.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Neuroscience Methods |
| Volume | 290 |
| Pages (from-to) | 145-150 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| ISSN | 0165-0270 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.10.2017 |
Funding
The work of was financed by the following grants: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft/Germany ( DFG PA930/9 , DFG PA930/12 ); VIAA/Latvia ( NFI/R/2014/023 ); Leibniz Society/Germany ( SAW-2015-IPB-2 ); HelseSØ/Norway ( 2016062 ); Norsk forskningsrådet/Norway ( 246392 , 247179 (NeuroGeM), 248772 , 251290 , 260786 (PROP-AD)); Horizon 2020/European Union ( 609020 (Scientia Fellows), 643417 (PROP-AD)). NeuroGeM is an EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) project. The project is supported through the following funding organisations under the aegis of JPND – www.jpnd.eu (CIHR – Canada, BMBF – Germany, NRF #247179 – Norway, ZonMW – The Netherlands). PROP-AD is an EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) project. The project is supported through the following funding organisations under the aegis of JPND – www.jpnd.eu (AKA #301228 – Finland, BMBF #01ED1605 – Germany, CSO-MOH #30000-12631 – Israel, NFR #260786 –− Norway, SRC #2015-06795 – Sweden). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement #643417 (JPco-fuND) . Scientia Fellows: The research has also received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-COFUND) under grant agreement No 609020. Appendix A
Research Areas and Centers
- Academic Focus: Center for Infection and Inflammation Research (ZIEL)
