Abstract
Microglial cells are the resident macrophages of the central nervous system involved in all pathological processes in the brain as well as postnatal neurogenesis , aging , and synaptic plasticity . Therefore, the identification of microgliocytes is important for experimental neuroscience and clinical histopathological studies. This chapter presents a detailed protocol of Iba1 -immunocytochemistry to be used for detecting the microglial cells in paraffin sections of the brain of laboratory animals (mouse , rat , and rabbit ) and humans by using the same primary antibody through species . The preparations are suitable for transmitted light microscopy and confocal laser microscopy . The advantage of the paraffin sections is a better preservation of morphological details, the possibility to use archival material stored for a long time, the relative ease of tissue processing, and the opportunity to standardize the separate procedures and the protocol as a whole. The high intensity of immunocytochemical reaction, absence of nonspecific background staining , and clear visualization of cell processes allow performing the automated analysis of three-dimensional (3D ) organization of microglia .
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The study is supported by the Russian Fund for Basic Researches (RFBR#14-04-00049а).
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Korzhevskii, D.E., Kirik, O., Sukhorukova, E. (2015). Immunocytochemistry of Microglial Cells. In: Merighi, A., Lossi, L. (eds) Immunocytochemistry and Related Techniques. Neuromethods, vol 101. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2313-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2313-7_12
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