Mouse Brain Matrix

thingiverse

A Novel Approach to Sectioning Mouse Brains Researchers have developed a mouse brain matrix that allows them to slice the brain into precise coronal or sagittal sections with ease and reproducibility. This innovative tool is commercially available, but its high cost and species-specific design make it inaccessible to many scientists. Open science hardware offers a solution by providing low-cost and easy-to-obtain materials such as 3D-printable designs. The cost of 3D printing has decreased dramatically, making it possible for many scientific laboratories to rapidly prototype custom laboratory equipment at an affordable price. Therefore, the researchers aimed to design a simple yet reliable matrix that could section brain tissue using freely available software and a consumer-grade 3D printer. Using MRI scans processed with open-source software, 3D Slicer, Meshlab, and OpenScad, the researchers designed a matrix specifically for adult mouse brains. This matrix is ideal for dissecting the dorsal and ventral hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and amygdala using ordinary razor blades and plastic micropipette tips. However, the design can be adapted to slice different regions or brain sizes, making it a versatile tool. This innovative object was inspired by "Rapid, Simple, and Inexpensive Production of Custom 3D Printed Equipment for Large-Volume Fluorescence Microscopy," published in the journal IJPharm. Despite reaching out to the editor and authors, the original object was never added to the supplementary information. When citing this work, please refer to Gianatiempo et al.'s Development of a Low-Cost 3D Printable Mouse Brain Matrix, which was presented at the 2018 Meeting of the Argentine Society for Research in Neurosciences.