Mar 26, 2026
Mouse Spinal Cord Extrusion
- Lilia Crew1,
- Alyssa Seerley2,
- Serena McElroy2,
- Andrea Grindeland Panter1,2
- 1Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Great Falls, MT, United States;
- 2Weissman Hood Institute at Touro University, McLaughlin Research Institute, Great Falls, MT, United States
- Lilia Crew: Co-first author;
- Alyssa Seerley: Co-first author
- Andrea Grindeland Panter: Senior author
Protocol Citation: Lilia Crew, Alyssa Seerley, Serena McElroy, Andrea Grindeland Panter 2026. Mouse Spinal Cord Extrusion. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.dm6gp7181gzp/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: March 26, 2026
Last Modified: March 26, 2026
Protocol Integer ID: 313961
Keywords: mouse spinal cord extrusion this protocol, mouse spinal cord extrusion, mouse spinal cord, hydropulsion technique, method for the extrusion, extrusion, technique
Funders Acknowledgements:
NIH General Medical Sciences
Grant ID: P20GM152335
Abstract
This protocol describes a method for the extrusion of a mouse spinal cord using the hydropulsion technique.
Materials
70% EtOH
Petri dish
1x Phosphate buffered saline (PBS)
Large scissors
Forceps
10ml syringe
Pipette tip
Troubleshooting
Problem
Failure to extrude spinal cord
Solution
Ensure visualization of spinal cord at both ends prior to hydrostatic expulsion. If the ends are not visualized, take small cuts from non-visualized end(s) and repeat. If error persists, ensure tight seal of syringe to spinal cord cavity.
Mouse Spinal Cord Extrusion
Place mouse on ventrum and coat with EtOH.
Decapitate the mouse at the occiput.
Remove the skin covering the spine.
Starting at the cranial side of the body using the large scissors, slice through the tissues and ribs lateral to the spinal vertebrae progressing caudally to the pelvis.
Next, perform a transverse scissor slice immediately cranial to the pelvis. This should extract the spine from the cervical vertebrae to the lumbosacral junction.
Remove additional organs with forceps and scissors on the ventral side of the spine.
Starting at the caudal end, ensure that the spinal cord is clean by removing excess tissue if necessary.
Hold the spinal cord in a fashion that eliminates the curvature.
Using a 10ml syringe filled with phosphate buffered saline (PBS), secure a tight seal with the syringe (may need to add a pipette tip with the tip cut to fit the size of the spinal cord) to the spinal cord cavity, allowing hydrostatic pressure to extrude the spinal cord into a petri dish filled with PBS, see Fig 1A. The extrusion of the spinal cord may be easier if specific spinal regions are dissected. This can be accomplished with transverse scissor slices at the throaco-lumber junction to isolate the thoracic spinal cord from the lumber spinal cord, see Fig 1B and C. If the spinal cord is stuck to the end of the vertebrae, carefully use the forceps to manipulate the spinal cord out of the cavity.
Fig 1. Spinal Cord Post-Extraction. [A] Thoracic and lumbar spinal cord regions in petri dish after extrusion with a 10ml syringe [B, C] View of the thoracic and lumbar spinal cord regions after extrusion; ready for further processing and analysis.
Store as desired.