JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE METHODS, cilt.145, sa.1-2, ss.277-284, 2005 (SCI-Expanded)
Locating the same microscopic fields in consecutive sections is important in stereological analysis. The tools for achieving this requirement have limited number in practice. This paper presents a simple and inexpensive technique for localizing the same fields on disector pairs in conventional light microscopes equipped with widely available dial indicators. It is partly a modification of equipment previously described. The presented procedure requires two light microscopes equipped with dial indicators and modified slide clips. An application of the present system was shown in a model of spinal cord injury (SCI). A midthoracic laminectomy was performed leaving the dura intact. A contusion was done at the level of midthoracic spinal cord segments (T7-T8) by dropping a 10-g mass from a height of 30cm. The subjects were randomly divided into three groups (10 animals in each): hypothermia group, methylprednisolone group, and traumatic spinal cord injury alone group. Present result show that treatment with hypothermia after spinal cord trauma has a neuroprotective effect on cell damage but not in the methylprednisolone treatment group. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.