Revised guides for organ sampling and trimming in rats and mice: SKELETAL MUSCLE and PERIPHERAL NERVE

SKELETAL MUSCLE and PERIPHERAL NERVE

Species:	Rats and Mice
Organs:	Skeletal muscle Peripheral nerve
Localizations:	Biceps femoris muscle Sciatic nerve
Number of sections:	3 (2)
Direction:	Skeletal muscle: longitudinal and/or transverse Sciatic nerve: longitudinal; optional: transverse
Remarks:	Muscle and nerve are sampled separately Optional: skeletal muscle and sciatic nerve sampled attached to each other. Longitudinal and transverse sections in one cassette. If only one sample of muscle is processed, a transverse section is preferred.

Preparation of skeletal muscle and sciatic nerve from the hind leg.
Skeletal muscle and sciatic nerve, transverse and longitudinal horizontal sections.

Muscle in situ, option.

Skeletal muscle, longitudinal section.
Skeletal muscle, transverse section.

Sciatic nerve, longitudinal section.

If skeletal muscle and sciatic nerve are sampled together, the gracilis, adductor, semimembranous and semitendinous muscles are removed from the medial aspect of the thigh to get access to the sciatic nerve running along the medial surface of the biceps femoris muscle. The sample is taken by proximal and distal transverse cuts. After fixation, transverse and longitudinal sections are prepared.

The sciatic nerve can be fixed on a card board, if not sampled together with muscle.

See also:
Introduction

References

	McGavin MD (1991) Procedures for morphological studies of skeletal muscle, rat, mouse, and hamster. In: Jones TC, Mohr U, Hunt RD (eds) Monographs on pathology of laboratory animals. Cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 101–108
	Popesko P, Rajtova V, Horak J (1992) A colour atlas of the anatomy of small laboratory animals. Vol. 2. Rat, mouse, golden hamster. Wolfe Publishing, Bratislava, p 89

Guidelines overview

	EMEA	FDA	MHW	EPA	NTP	OECD	STP
Peripheral (sciatic) nerve	+	+		+	+	+	+
Skeletal muscle	+	+			+	+	+