FD NeuroSilver™ Kit I   

Cat. # PK301 (for 300 sections)          Price: $528.00

Cat. # PK301A (for 150 sections)       Price: $382.50

FD NeuroSilver™ Kit I is designed for the detection of degenerating neurons in fixed tissue sections of the central nervous system from experimental animals. The principle of this kit is based on the findings that some components of the neurons undergoing degeneration, such as lysosomes, axons, and terminals, become particularly argyrophilic. Under certain conditions, these cellular elements bind to the silver ions with high affinity. Upon reduction, the silver ions form metallic grains that are visible under a light or electron microscope. 

FD NeuroSilver™ Kit I has been used widely in animal studies under various experimental conditions (cf. below for references using this kit). This kit has proven extremely specific and sensitive for the detection of degenerating neuronal somata, axons, and terminals in both the brain and the spinal cord (cf. photo samples). It is particularly useful for the detection of small numbers of degenerating neurons that may not be demonstrable with routine histopathological techniques. 

FD NeuroSilver™ Kit I has also been proven to be very sensitive and reliable for the detection of amyloid plaques in the brain of transgenic mice (cf. photo samples ). In addition, this kit may be used for demonstrating neurodegeneration and/or amyloid plaques in tissue sections that have been processed for immunohistochemistry (cf. photo samples & also ref. 3).  The procedure of FD NeuroSilver™ Kit I takes approximately 1 hour.

Kit Contents:                                                       PK301A          PK301

Solution A                                      250 ml                 500 ml
Solution B                                      250 ml                 500 ml
Solution C                                      250 ml x 2           500 ml x 2
Solution D                                      250 ml                 500 ml
Solution E                                      1 ml                      2 ml
Solution F                                       2 ml                     3 ml
Solution G (5X)                             500 ml                 500 ml
Glass Specimen Retriever         2                           2
User Manual                                  1                           1

Materials Required, but Not Included:  

• Double distilled water

• Tissue culture plates (6-well)

• Histological supplies and equipment, including gelatin-coated microscope slides, glass coverslips, hair brush, staining jars, xylene or xylene substitutes and a light microscope.

 User Manual (PK301, Version 2008-01)

References using FD Neurosilver kit I: 

1. Burns LH, Jin Z and Bowersox SS: The neuroprotective effects of intrathecal administration of the selective N-type calcium channel blocker ziconotide in a rat model of spinal ischemia. J. Vasc. Surg. 30:334-343, 1999. 

2. Ahima RS, Bjorbaek C, Osei S and Flier JS: Regulation of neuronal and glial proteins by leptin: implications for brain development. Endocrinology 140: 2755-2762, 1999.

3. Betarbet R, Sherer TB, MacKenzie G, Garcia-Osuna M, Panov AV and Greenamyre JT: Chronic systemic pesticide exposure reproduces features of Parkinson’s disease. Nature Neuroscience 3: 1301-1306, 2000. 

4. Sternfeld M, Shoham S, Klein O, Flores-Flores C, Evron T, Idelson GH, Kitsberg D, Patrick JW, and Soreq H: Excess “read-through” acetylcholinesterase attenuates but the “synaptic” variant intensifies neurodeterioration correlates. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97: 8647-8652, 2000.

5. Kuhlmann AC and  Guilarte TR: Cellular and subcellular localization of peripheral benzodiazepine receptors after trimethyltin neurotoxicity. J. Neurochem. 74: 1694-1704, 2000.

6. Zito MA, Koennecke LA, McAuliffe MJ, McNally B, van Rooijen N and Heyes MP: Depletion of systemic macrophages by liposome-encapsulated clodronate attenuates striatal macrophage invasion and neurodegeneration following local endotoxin infusion in gerbils. Brain Res. 892:13-26, 2001. 

7. Northington FJ, Ferriero DM, Graham EM, Traystman RJ, and Martin LJ: Early neurodegeneration after hypoxia-ischemia in neonatal rat is necrosis while delayed neuronal death is apoptosis. Neurobiol. Dis. 8:207-219, 2001. 

8. Ding Y, Yao B, Lai Q and McAllister JP: Impaired motor learning and diffuse axonal damage in motor and visual systems of the rat following traumatic brain injury. Neurol. Res. 23: 193-202, 2001. 

9. Shoham S, Javitt DC and Heresco-Levy U: Chronic high-dose glycine nutrition: effects on rat brain cell morphology. Biol. Psychiatry 49: 876-885, 2001. 

10. Ding Y, McAllister JP, Yao B, Yan N and Canady AI: Axonal damage associated with enlargement of ventricles during hydrocephalus: a silver impregnation study. Neurol. Res. 23: 581-587, 2001. 

11. Northington FJ, Ferriero DM, and Martin LJ: Neurodegeneration in the thalamus following neonatal hypoxia-ischemia is programmed cell death. Dev. Neurosci.  23: 186-191, 2001. 

12. Ding Y, McAllister JP, Yao B, Yan N and Canady AI: Neuron tolerance during hydrocephalus. Neuroscience 106:659-667, 2001.

13.  Liu ZP, Gastard M, Verina T, Bora S, Mouton PR and Koliatsos VE: Estrogens modulate experimentally induced apoptosis of granule cells in the adult hippocampus. J. Comp. Neurol. 441: 1-8, 2001.

14. Freeman A, Ciliax B, Bakay R, Daley J, Miller RD, Keating G, Levey A and Rye D: Nigrostriatal collaterals to thalamus degenerate in Parkinsonian animal models. Ann Neurol. 50:321-329, 2001.

15. Guo-Ross SX, Clark S, Montoya DAC, Jones KH, Obernier J, Shetty AK, White AM, Blusztajn JK, Wilson WA, and Swartzwelder HS: Prenatal choline supplementation protects against postnatal neurotoxicity. J. Neuroscience 22: RC195: 1-6, 2002.
16. McCormack AL, Thiruchelvam M, Manning-Bog AB, Thiffault C, Langston JW, Cory-Slechta DA, and Di Monte DA: Environmental risk factors and Parkinson’s disease: selective degeneration of nigral dopaminergic neurons caused by the herbicide paraquat. Neurobiol. Dis. 10: 119-127, 2002.
17. Montoliu C, Humet M, Canales J_J, Burda J, Planells-Cases R, Sánchez-Baeza F, Carbonell T, Pérez-Payá E, Messeguer A, Ferrer-Montiel A and Felipo V: Prevention of in vivo excitotoxicity by a family of trialkylglycines, a novel class of neuroprotectants. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 301: 29-36, 2002.
18. Gordon MN, Holcomb LA, Jantzen PT, DiCarlo G, Wilcock D, Boyett KW, Connor K, Melachrino J, O'Callaghan JP, and Morgan D: Time course of the development of Alzheimer-like pathology in the doubly transgenic PS1+APP mouse. Exp. Neurol. 173: 183-195, 2002.

19. Tong W, Igarashi T, Ferriero DM, and Noble LJ: Traumatic brain injury in the immature mouse brain: characterization of regional vulnerability. Exp. Neurol. 176: 105-116, 2002.

20. Ding Y, Yao B, Zhou Y, Park H, McAllister JP and Diaz FG: Prereperfusion flushing of ischemic territory: a therapeutic study in which histological and behavioral assessments were used to measure ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats with stroke. J. Neurosurg. 96: 310-9, 2002.
21. Abdel-Rahman A, Shetty AK and Abou-Donia MB: Disruption of the blood-brain barrier and neuronal cell death in cingulate cortex, dentate gyrus, thalamus, and hypothalamus in a rat model of gulf-war syndrome. Neurobiol. Dis. 10: 306-326, 2002.
22. Bianco CL, Ridet JL, Schneider BL, Déglon N, and Aebischer P: α-synucleinopathy and selective dopaminergic neuron loss in a rat lentiviral-based model of Parkinson’s disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99: 10813-10818, 2002.
23. Lauwers E, Debyser Z, Van Dorpe J, De Strooper B, Nuttin B, and Baekelandt V: Neuropathology and neurodegeneration in rodent brain induced by lentiviral vector-mediated overexpression of alpha-synuclein. Brain Pathol.13: 364-372, 2003.

24. Sherer TB, Kim JH, Betarbet R and Greenamyre JT: Subcutaneous rotenone exposure causes highly selective dopaminergic degeneration and α-synuclein aggregation. Exp. Neurol. 179:9-16, 2003.

25. Shoham S, Bejar C, Kovalev E, and Weinstock M: Intracerebroventricular injection of streptozotocin causes neurotoxicity to myelin that contributes to spatial memory deficits in rats. Exp. Neurol. 184: 1043-1052, 2003.

26. Manning-Boğ AB, McCormack AL, Purisai MG, Bolin LM, and Di Monte A: α-synuclein overexpression protects against paraguat-induced neurodegeneration. J. Neuroscience 23: 3095-3099, 2003.

27. Paschen W, Yatsiv I, Shoham S, and Shohami E: Brain trauma induces X-box protein 1 processing indicative of activation of the endoplasmic reticulum unfolded protein response. J. Neurochem. 88: 983-992, 2004.

28. Shoham S and Youdim MBH: Nutritional iron deprivation attenuates kainate-induced neurotoxicity in rats: implications for involvement of iron in neurodegerneration. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1012: 24-114, 2004.

29. Abdel-Rahman A, Abou-Donia SM, El-Masry EM, Shetty AK, and Abou-Donia MB: Stress and combined exposure to low doses of pyridostigmine bromide, deet, and permethrin produce neurochemical and neuropathological alterations in cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum. J. Toxicol. Environ. Health Part A, 67: 163-192, 2004.
30. Lo Bianco C, Schneider BL, Bauer M, Sajadi A, Brice A, Iwatsubo T, and Aebischer P: Lentiviral vector delivery of parkin prevents dopaminergic degeneration in an α–synuclein rat model of Parkinson’s disease. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101: 17510-17515, 2004.
31. Williams AJ, Hartings JA, Lu  XCM, Rolli ML, Dave JR, and Tortella FC: Characterization of a new rat model of penetrating ballistic brain injury. J. Neurotrauma 22:313-331, 2005.
32. Liang ZQ, Wang XX, Wang Y, Chuang DM, DiFiglia M, Chase TN and Qin ZH: Susceptibility of striatal neurons to excitotoxic injury correlates with basal levels of Bcl-2 and the induction of P53 and c-Myc immunoreactivity. Neurobiool. Dis. 20:562-573, 2005.
33. Martin LJ, Pan Y, Price AC, Sterling W, Copeland NG, Jenkins NA, Price DL and Lee MK: Parkinson's disease α-synuclein transgenic mice develop neuronal mitochondrial degeneration and cell death. J. Neuroscience 26:41-50, 2006.
34. Dow G, Bauman R, Caridha D, Cabezas M, Du F, Gomez-Lobo R, Park M, Smith K, Cannard K: Mefloquine induces dose-related neurological effects in a rat model. Antimicrobial. Agents & Chemotherapy 50:1045-1053, 2006.
35. Rao MS, Hattiangady B, Reddy DS and Shetty AK: Hippocampal neurodegeneration, spontaneous seizures, and mossy fiber sprouting in the F344 rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy.  J. Neurosci. Res. 83:1088-1105, 2006.
36. Yazdani U, German DC, Liang C-L, Manzino L, Sonsalla PK and Zeevalk GD: Rat model of Parkinson's disease: chronic central delivery of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+).                    Exp. Neurol. 200:172-183, 2006.
37. Yan X, Benson JM, Gomez AP, Baden DG and Murray TF: Brevetoxin-induced neural insult in the retrosplenial cortex of mouse brain. Inhalation Toxicology 18:1109-1116, 2006.
38. Theodore S, Stolberg S, Cass WA and Maragos WF: Human immunodeficiency virus-1 protein Tat and methamphetamine interactions. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1074:178-190, 2006.
39. Zhang Y, Leavitt BR, van Raamsdonk JM, Dragatsis I, Goldowitz D, MacDonald ME, Hayden MR, and Friedlander RM: Huntingtin inhibits caspase-3 activation. The EMBO Journal 25:5896-5906, 2006.
40. Cui L, Jeong H, Borovecki F, Parkhurst CN, Tanese N and Krainc D: Transcriptional repression of PGC-1α by mutant huntingtin leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and neurodegeneration.   Cell 127:59-69, 2006.
41. Luo J, Lin AH, Masliah E and Wyss-Coray T: Bioluminescence imaging of Smad signaling in living mice shows correlation with excitotoxic neurodegeneration.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 18326-18331, 2006.
42. Williams AJ, Hartings JA, Lu  XCM, Rolli ML and Tortella FC: Penetrating ballistic-like brain injury in the rat: differential time courses of hemorrhage, cell death, inflammation, and remote degeneration. J. Neurotrauma 23:1828-1846, 2006.
43. Adhami F, Liao GH, Morozov YM, Schloemer A, Schmithorst VJ, Lorenz JN, Dunn RS, Vorhees CV Wills-Karp M, Degen JL, Davis RJ, Mizushima N, Rakic P, Dardzinski BJ, Holland SK, Sharp FR and Kuan CY: Cerebral ischemia-hypoxia induces intravascular coagulation and autophagy. American J. Pathology. 169:566-583, 2006.
44. Saydoff JA, Garcia RAG, Browne SE, Liu LS, Sheng J, Brenneman D, Hu Z, Cardin S, Gonzalez A, von Borstel RW, Gregorio J, Burr H and Flint Beal M: Oral uridine pro-drug PN401 is neuroprotective in the R6/2 and N171-82Q mouse models of Huntington's disease. Neurobiol. Dis. 24:455-465, 2006.