Sorry…but generally no ! In our hands, previously frozen tissue does not stain well. This appears to be due to the occurrence of ice crystals (which can occur either during freezing or defrosting stages) and which damages cell membranes. Damage to cell membranes is a major factor in precluding good Golgi impregnations.

Absolutely! One major advantage of Golgi staining is that once our slides have been prepared, they are typically stable for many months and even years! So it is feasible for us to go back to those original slides time and time again to carry out an analysis of additional cell population(s) from those slides. We would only have to re-code the slides to ensure that the newl study is also blinded and unbiased.

Sure….we often receive entire brains, but just as frequently there is only one hemisphere available from each subject. (particularly with rodents). Occasionally, we may only get smaller coronal blocks of tissue; this, too, is acceptable for our studies (as long as the blocks are at least 2mm thick).

Absolutely… I will be happy to send any remaining formalin-fixed tissue and all the slides and data back to you. They are yours.

For Golgi studies the typical study size that I recommend (based on literature as well as our previous studies) is 5-6 brains per group (N) with corresponding analysis of 6-8 neurons per brain (n) of a specific neuronal population. This is generally highly publishable. Obviously, the larger the size of the study the stronger is the statistical power and this adds to the validity of the results. We can always further increase the size of the study if requested. If the study is published, I would hope to be included as a co author on the study.

Absolutely ! We frequently get tissue shipped from countries worldwide. Sending formalin-fixed tissue for research purposes using a standard carrier (e.g., DHL, FedEx, etc…) should not present any problems with US customs.

Nothing!! If the staining doesn’t work, and no study can be carried out, there is no charge. (Fortunately, this is a very rare occurrence).

Stereology is a powerful tool for unbiased quantification in neuroscience, especially when it comes to estimating neuron numbers and brain region volumes like the hippocampus. At Nirvana Neuroscience, we employ stereology largely as an ancillary means to ensure that we are not misinterpreting the result of the Golgi-derived data as well as to add further validation to those findings. For example, it has been hypothesized that neuronal loss (as in Alzheimer’s disease) could be accompanied by an increase in dendritic arbor in the surviving neurons. This hypothesis – known as Compensatory Dendritic Hypertrophy — is based on the contention that the surviving neurons may expand their dendritic branches into the areas of the neuropil vacated by the dead/dying neighboring neurons. Stereology could readily define more precisely what changes are occurring in the neuropil and what kind of interaction may be found between dendritic branching, spines, and neuronal numbers to avoid misinterpretation of the data.

Not at all. Since our collaboration is on a “fee for-service” basis, how you wish to utilize or disseminate the data and findings that we generate is your decision. Clearly, while we would encourage publication of relevant findings (and would hope to have some degree of recognized co-authorship on any publication), nevertheless, the data is yours. As such and recognizing that certain business decisions or research directions may determine how the data is used, we have commonly signed non disclosure agreements to preserve the privacy of the results.