A NEW METHOD OF PREPARING HUMAN WHOLE-BRAIN SECTIONS FOR IN-VITRO RECEPTOR AUTORADIOGRAPHY

In vitro receptor autoradiography is a widely used technique for deter mining the distribution of radioligand binding sites. By using this te chnique it is possible to investigate alterations in receptor number a nd affinity caused by trauma or a disease state. To date, however, the largest sections prepared for in vitro autoradiography have been from single human hemispheres, with the whole brain tissue is described. W hole brains obtained less than 2 days postmortem were frozen at -80 de grees C. 1.5-2 cm coronal slices were cut from the brain and embedded and frozen in a carboxymethylcellulose solution. Sections 40 mu m in s ize were sliced from the frozen block at -16 degrees C in a whole body cryostat. The sections were lifted by means of a nylon membrane backi ng material and subsequently incubated with tritiated ligand to produc e autoradiograms of each whole brain coronal section. [H-3]paroxetine was used in the present study as an example. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.