Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of <em>Xenopus laevis</em> Tectal Neurons

Abstract

The Xenopus tadpole retinotectal circuit, comprised of the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the eye which form synapses directly onto neurons in the optic tectum, is a popular model to study how neural circuits self-assemble. The ability to carry out whole cell patch clamp recordings from tectal neurons and to record RGC-evoked responses, either in vivo or using a whole brain preparation, has generated a large body of high-resolution data about the mechanisms underlying normal, and abnormal, circuit formation and function. Here we describe how to perform the in vivo preparation, the original whole brain preparation, and a more recently developed horizontal brain slice preparation for obtaining whole cell patch clamp recordings from tectal neurons. Each preparation has unique experimental advantages. The in vivo preparation enables us to record the direct response of tectal neurons to visual stimuli projected onto the eye. The whole brain preparation allows for the RGC axons to be activated in a highly controlled manner, and the horizontal brain slice preparation allows us to record from across all layers of the tectum.

Presenilin Regulates Retinotectal Synapse Formation through EphB2 Receptor Processing

“…Then the skin covering the brain was removed and the brain was filleted along the dorsal midline. For both preparations, the ventricular membrane covering the tectum was removed by using a broken glass pipette to access tectal cells (Liu et al, ).…”