Complete Spinal Cord Injury and Brain Dissection Protocol for Subsequent Wholemount In Situ Hybridization in Larval Sea Lamprey

This paper details a protocol for performing complete spinal cord injuries on larval sea lampreys to study nerve regeneration. The protocol includes instructions on how to house the lampreys, perform the spinal cord transection, and dissect the brain for in situ hybridization. This protocol allows researchers to investigate differences in gene expression between spinal cord neurons that regenerate well versus those that do not after injury.

• 1
  The protocol demonstrates a reliable method for complete spinal cord transection in larval sea lampreys.
• 2
  The method allows for subsequent brain dissection and preparation for wholemount in situ hybridization to study gene expression.
• 3
  The results show that the neogenin receptor is preferentially expressed in bad regenerators after spinal cord transection.