Experience with examination of the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system (PNS) in mice: A brief overview

The representative areas for examination of the mouse peripheral nervous system are the spinal cord, containing central components of the peripheral nervous system that needs to be examined at least at cervical and lumbar level, the sciatic and the tibial nerve. Skeletal muscle samples should include the soleus muscle and the quadriceps femoris or long digital extensor, as well as the medial gastrocnemius. Examination can be extended to the thoracic spinal cord, lumbar dorsal root ganglia and spinal nerve roots, as well as the plantar nerve, and other areas of interest. Perfusion fixation is considered optimal for the nervous system; however, immersion fixation allows producing microscopic sections of excellent quality as well. Paraffin-embedded, hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections can be made from all areas, save for small nerves such as the tibial or plantar nerve, which are examined with advantage in hard plastic sections. It is possible to produce hard plastic sections also of the vertebral column, including the spinal cord, dorsal root ganglia and nerve roots. For special investigations, mice can be fixed in toto, decalcified, embedded and sectioned to reveal the areas of interest. In the mouse peripheral nerves, myelination progresses until the adult age. In aging peripheral nerves there is axonal atrophy, degeneration, nerve fiber loss, increase of collagen and sporadic demyelination, especially radiculoneuropathy. The dorsal root ganglia of untreated control animals show frequent cytoplasmic vacuolation. Axonal degeneration is distally, primary demyelination proximally accentuated. Mouse is not very sensitive to peripheral neurotoxicity: to induce toxic peripheral neuropathy mostly parenteral administration and/or newborn animals are used. Naturally occurring infection affecting the spinal cord and peripheral nerves is Theiler's encephalomyelitis virus inducing acute poliomyelitis or chronic demyelination. Any experimental results are to be assessed taking into account spontaneous, age-related, background changes.