thick block of lumbar spinal cord is taken from both sides of this incision and is fixed. The rostral lumbar and caudal adjacent 0.4 cm are frozen. A similar procedure is used for the cervical and thoracic cord in order to obtain frozen slices of cord in the cervical enlargement and midthoracic regions. The remainder of the spinal cord is fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 48 to 72 hours and then transferred to cryoprotectant (glycerol, DMSO, and phosphate buffer) for storage in a 4°C refrigerator.
