Half of the brain was immediately placed in 4% paraformaldehyde followed by sucrose cyroprotection and sectioned sagittally at 50 μM using a sliding microtome (
SM 2000R; Leica Instruments, Wetzlar, Germany). To visualize thalamic lesions, neuronal nuclei were labeled using a primary antibody for NeuN. Washes were performed between each step (3X, 5-min each in Tris Buffered Saline, TBS). Slices were incubated for 30 min in 3% hydrogen peroxide for 30-min in a solution of 10% normal horse serum and 1% Triton X-100 in TBS and 48-hrs in
monoclonal mouse anti-NeuN (1:500, Millipore, Temecula, CA) at 4°C. After rinses, slices were incubated for 2-hrs in biotinylated horse anti-mouse IgG (Vector Lab Inc, Burlington, CA) and then 2-hrs in an avidin-biotin conjugate solution (
Vector ABC Elite kit; Vector Laboratories, Inc.). Finally, sections were exposed to 3,3′-diaminobenzidine for 2-min for sufficient chromogenic signal. Sections approximately 0.05, 1.0, and 2.0 mm lateral from the midline (Paxinos and Watson, 2013 ) were imaged at 4X on a Nikon microscope (Eclipse E400, Japan) using
Image-Pro Insight software (MediaCybernetics, Rockville, MD). Extent of thalamic neuronal was assessed using Image J (NIH, freeware).
Vedder L.C., Hall J.M., Jabrouin K.R, & Savage L.M. (2015). Interactions between chronic ethanol consumption and thiamine deficiency on neural plasticity, spatial memory and cognitive flexibility. Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 39(11), 2143-2153.