A manually-operated brain tissue slicer suitable for neurotransmitter release studies.

A simple, inexpensive device has been designed to prepare slices or prisms of brain tumor for metabolic and release experiments by means of a hand-operated method. It is particularly suitable for very rapid slicing of small, irregular pieces of brain tissue dissected from animals or specimens available at biopsy. This simple apparatus was produced as an alternative to the more widely used motor-driven tissue choppers. A comparison of the morphological and metabolic integrity of tissue produced by the new slicer and a conventional tissue chopper is presented. The hand tissue slicer has been used to measure the release of monoamine neurotransmitters and specific neuropeptides in vitro.