Tissue Solutions is pleased to be able to offer human dorsal root ganglia (DRG) recovered under operating room conditions. DRGs contain the cell bodies of afferent neurons and are the mechanism by which the body detects and communicates pain through the central nervous system. The tissues are a target for research into neurological disorders such as peripheral neuropathy and have applications for the development of novel pain management therapies.
In response to an increasing need for a reliable source of this neurological material, Tissue Solutions has developed a harvesting process in partnership with a collection site in the US. Anatomically trained staff perform the isolation of the DRGs from heart-beating transplant donors whose vital functions are maintained artificially to maintain viability. The samples are immediately placed in Hibernate A, a holding and shipping medium that maintains the tissues during the shipping process. DRGs T-12 through L2 are the most accessible but the service can be fully customised to suit individual researchers’ needs including the DRG location and the quantity required.
Tissue Solutions can also provide post mortem DRG specimens collected from patients with clinically relevant disease histories and linked to detailed donor information. These samples can be supplied in FFPE and frozen format and typically have a post mortem interval of around eight hours.
DRGs are very much in demand with potential research applications including electrophysiology, live cell imaging studies, in situ hybridization and micro-array analysis. The very low cold ischemia times of the fresh samples mean that samples are of an extremely high quality and as such are particularly suitable for primary culture and molecular applications.
For further information please contact Tissue Solutions.