For a number of years R. Felix Garcia has been designing and
manufacturing in vitro chambers for neuroscience research in
collaboration with researchers at Yale University Medical School and
elsewhere. Our speciality is in chamber designs constructed from
plexiglass, stainless steel and aluminium. Many designs are available
'off the shelf', with custom designs for your application being produced
at little extra cost.
Current production chambers include:-
**Cell dissociation chamber**
For dissociation of neurons from mammalian CNS tissue for patch clamp
and optical recordings according to the method of Kay and Wong (Kay AR.
Wong RK. Isolation of neurons suitable for patch-clamping from adult
mammalian central nervous systems. J Neurosci Methods. (1986).
16(3):227-38. The chamber incorporates a plexiglass jacket (for
circulation of heated water), and a glass inner chamber where the
nervous tissue is incubated with digestive enzymes.
Publications arising from neurons dissociated in this chamber:-
Patch clamp recording
Jiang C. Haddad GG. A direct mechanism for sensing low oxygen levels by
central neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. (1994), 91(15):7198-201.
Single cell microfluorimetry
Friedman JE. Haddad GG. Major differences in Ca2+i response to anoxia
between neonatal and adult rat CA1 neurons: role of Ca2+o and Na+o. J
Neurosci. (1993), 13(1):63-72.
**Superfusion ('fully-submerged') brain slice recording chamber**
For electrophysiological recordings. The design is two part, consisting
of the chamber proper and a separate water jacket for preheating the
aqueous perfusate. The recording chamber volume is small (<0.5 ml),
enabling very rapid solution exchange (» 20 s). The design is very
similar to that reported by Roger Nicolls lab (Nicoll RA. Alger BE. A
simple chamber for recording from submerged brain slices. J Neurosci
Methods. (1981) 4(2):153-6).
**Interface brain-slice chamber**
For electrophysiological recordings. When it is desired to maintain
brain slices at a gas-liquid interface on a flat plate plexiglass
surface. The design is very similar to the original report of this
chamber type (Haas HL. Schaerer B. Vosmansky M. A simple perfusion
chamber for the study of nervous tissue slices in vitro. J Neurosci
Methods. (1979) 1(4):323-5). The chamber consists of a plexiglass plate
which sits on a heated humidfying chamber that both heats the perfusate
and the gas flowing over the slices. The chamber can incorporate either
a heating wire for electrical heating via a thermostatic heating
controller, or a stainless-steel tubular coil for circulation of warmed
water to heat the chamber.
**Enviromental chamber**
For exposure of rodents to controlled breathing mixtures. Chamber
includes all hardware to maintain a gas-regulated and air-tight
envioment including provisions for connection of an internal oxygen
probe, and gas flow tubes for mixing of gases.
Enquiries can be passed via email sent to michael.croning at yale.edu or
directly to:-
R. Felix Garcia
745 Orange
Apt. 1
New Haven, CT 06511, USA
