A practical guide to microscope care and maintenance.

Optimal microscope performance requires regular maintenance and quality control testing. This chapter is a practical guide to microscope care with an emphasis on preventing, identifying and troubleshooting common issues.

Synaptogenesis on mature hippocampal dendrites occurs via filopodia and immature spines during blocked synaptic transmission.

During development, dendritic spines emerge as stubby protrusions from single synapses on dendritic shafts or from retracting filopodia, many of which have more than one synapse. These structures are rarely encountered in the mature brain. Recently, confocal and two-photon microscopy have revealed a proliferation of new filopodia-like protrusions in mature hippocampal slices, especially when synaptic transmission was blocked.

Timing of neuronal and glial ultrastructure disruption during brain slice preparation and recovery in vitro.

Hippocampal slices often have more synapses than perfusion-fixed hippocampus, but the cause of this synaptogenesis is unclear. Ultrastructural evidence for synaptogenic triggers during slice preparation was investigated in 21-day-old rats. Slices chopped under warm or chilled conditions and fixed after 0, 5, 25, 60, or 180 minutes of incubation in an interface chamber were compared with hippocampi fixed by perfusion or by immersion of the whole hippocampus.