Description
DESCRIPTION
The Brain Slice Transporter system was developed and designed to assist scientists working in laboratory areas that are physically separated from animal house facilities, or where live animals cannot be brought into a laboratory. Further, there is an increasing requirement for the transportation of donated human tissue from clinical environments into laboratories for use in research studies.
Certain surgical procedures result in healthy tissue being discarded. Here, donated brain samples, for instance from individuals suffering from epilepsy, can be sectioned into thin slices and placed into the BST to maintain viability while being transported sometimes by road to a laboratory facility. If tissue samples are transported submerged, the motion of the aCSF causes movement and deterioration of these fragile samples. The BST addresses this by separating the moving fluid below from the tissue held in interface mode within a continuously perfused chamber whilst kept in high oxygen concentration and humidified in a closed container.
The transporter manifold is constructed in acrylic plastic, with an upper section containing an interface chamber, a solution feed reservoir and a liquid pump operated entirely by carbogen gas. The chamber is mounted above a reservoir containing oxygen-saturated aCSF and contained in a transport jug with a handle for easy handling. A tight seal lid on top of the jug allows for the maintenance of a high oxygen and humidification level above the slices during transport.
The diameter of the jug is 85mm, height is 160mm. The transporter module is carried entirely within the jug. The lower section of the jug maintains saturated aCSF with a volume of 500ml and provides humidification with an air stone incorporated into it. The aCSF is pumped up to the interface chamber above by means of a second carbogen line that feeds into a tube to allow bubbles to carry solution to the top, this is the fluid pump. This is fed to a reservoir from which aCSF is wicked into an interface chamber with a base lined with polypropylene mesh.
Excess fluid returns from one end to the reservoir to the bottom, likewise extra solution from the reservoir returns to the bottom for re-circulation. Two separate carbogen feed tubes enter the jug from the lid and are connected to the upper chamber. An external source of portable carbogen is required for the operation of the Brain Slice Transporter system and the entire system is normally carried in a polystyrene ‘Igloo’ to maintain cool temperatures for the transport phase.
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