Microdissected tissue was collected directly into RLT buffer from the RNeasy Micro kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, CA) supplemented with β-mercaptoethanol. Samples were volume adjusted with RLT Buffer to 75µl, vortexed, centrifuged, and frozen at −80°C. RNA was isolated for each brain region following the manufacturer’s directions. RNA samples were eluted in 14µl, and 1µl was run on the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA) using the Pico 6000 assay kit. Samples were quantitated using the Bioanalyzer concentration output. The average RNA Integrity Number (RIN) of all 1,202 passed experimental samples was 6.3.
