A METHOD FOR THE RAPID ANALYSIS OF NEURONAL PROPORTIONS AND NEURITE MORPHOLOGY IN PRIMARY CULTURES

This article provides basic guidelines for a rapid analysis of subpopu lation proportions and neurite morphology in primary cultures. We desc ribe, in E14 mesencephalic primary cultures, an immunohistochemical me thod for the simultaneous identification of multiple neuronal phenotyp es and an estimation of the ratio of subpopulations. In addition, we d escribe the use of the Renaissance TSA-Direct hit (NEN, DuPont) to enh ance the visualization of neurites when the antigen is in low abundanc e. Finally, a modified SholI analysis is used to rapidly and reliably estimate neurite number and length.