SMASH: Serial collection multi-well acute slice holder

Key features:

• Acute slices can be maintained for many hours before transferring to a recording chamber
• Multi-well design allows users to easily separate slices in serial order during collection
• Simple to set up and maintain
• Compatible with most nylon nets

The Serial collection multi-well acute slice holder (SMASH) has been designed to pre-incubate acute slices prior to transfer into recording chambers. Included are a number of printable rings, which can be used to wedge a sheet of nylon netting. It is recommended that you test which ring gives works best with your material.

If you use this in your experiments, please cite us! :) 

How to use:

To operate, cut a small square of nylon netting for each well and hold in place with the locking ring. Immerse SMASH into a holding vessel (ie. small rectangular plastic container) filled with desired solution. SMASH can be easily held in place 5-10cm above the bottom on the container with plastic tubings or anchors to the edge of the container. A 95% O2, 5% CO2 gas mixture can be supplied below the holder with a ceramic bubbler. The bubbles rising from the base of SMASH saturate the solution and provide constant circulation of medium to the slices which rest on the nylon net. Since the lower half of SMASH carries a deflector shield, bubbles are prevented from being trapped under the slices and ensure continuous medium circulation. 

Slices remain viable for many hours in these conditions.

Notes about assembly:

We have printed the material from heat resistant plastics (Extrudr Greentec Pro) but they can be autoclaved using alternative methods. We machine cut custom holders for the SMASH recording chamber out of stainless steel metal, but alternatively paper clips also work. These will need to be adjusted depending on your container shape and size.

Print:

1x SMASH Main Body

6x Ring Base

6x Ring Top (first determine which size is right for your mesh)