A VARIATION OF THE TISSUE PRINT TECHNIQUE FOR STUDYING ISOLATED SPINAL-CORD CELLS IN-SITU

We present a novel variation of the tissue print technique which yield s isolated spinal cells that retain their original topographical organ ization in situ. A light papain digestion combined with a low-melting- point agarose as the adhesive substrate is used to 'print' a monolayer of cells from spinal cord slices. Printed cells are viable for studie s using electrophysiological approaches. This technique provides a mea ns to bridge the gap between properties of isolated cells and their to pographical identity in spinal cord. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.