WPI has supplied stereotaxic frames, manufactured injection tools, and supporting products for every stereotaxic application for over 30 years. Let our specialists guide you to building out your workflow for your surgical needs!
What is Stereotaxic Surgery, and Why
is Using the Proper Tools So Critical?
Stereotaxic surgery is a method of surgery using high accuracy to localize certain areas of the brain, spinal cord, eye, and so on. In regards to pre-clinical stereotaxic surgery, it is usually done on a rodent model, marmoset, and small mammals to investigate various pathways, signaling patterns, and structural contributions to networks of nuclei in the brain. Using a coordinate system, or atlas, the structure(s) of interest can be triangulated for proper placement of virus, florescent stain, cannula pedestal, etc. Stereotaxic surgery has been a vital tool to better understand various pathologies and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Schizophrenia, and many more. Using surgical intervention allows for a means of developing therapies for such diseases pre-clinically. Various forms of stereotaxic applications exist, to name a few: DREADDS (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) to excite or inhibit nuclei of interest, electrode placement for deep brain stimulation, optogenetics using light to stimulate channel rhodopsin-tagged neurons to modulate signaling in an area of interest, cannulations, lesioning, knockdown/knockout in neonatal-stage subjects, and much more.
It is critical to select the right tools to execute the desired application. If you plan to target a very small subregion of a structure for example, you need to infuse under 1uL of viral vector bilaterally, it may be a good option to look into an ultra-precise model of stereotax. Further, it is important to pair with a proper injector with little to no dead volume—removing any confounds is very important to executing a successful surgery to obtain the desired data in your study. Further, having the proper microscopes, drills, anesthesia system, all contribute to the quality of your subjects’ recovery (if a survival surgery is being done), especially when behavioral experimentation will be part of your study.
Stereotaxic Configurations
MOTORIZED DIGITAL STEREOTAXIC
A fully motorized, programmable stereotax with 10μm resolution, featuring WPI’s UMP3T-1 Syringe Pump, and our NanoFil Gas-Tight 0 dead volume syringe.
IDEAL FOR
- Convenience of hands-free targeting
- High-throughput surgical applications
APPLICATIONS
- General stereotaxic, deep brain targeting, high repeatability-demanding studies
MARKET
- Academia, Core facilities, government contract-research, pre-clinical/pharmaceutical, CRO
ULTRA-PRECISE NEW STEREOTAXIC
An ultra-precise digital stereotax with 1μm resolution. Digital displays significantly reduce manual error during stereotaxic surgery*
IDEAL FOR
- Dual Arm Frame (above): Simultaneous Bilateral Applications
- Single Arm: Either single or bilateral applications (preference)
APPLICATIONS
- General stereotaxic, high-specificity target regions, high repeatability-demanding studies
MARKET
- Academia, Core facilities, government contract-research, pre-clinical/pharmaceutical, CRO
STANDARD STEREOTAXIC, U-FRAME
A standard, non-digital u-frame style with 10μm resolution. Featured with WPI’s NANOLITER2020 positive displacement pump, perfect for infusions where a glass tip is preferred.
IDEAL FOR
- Simple infusions
- Large target regions not requiring digital accuracy/readout
- Can be used for bilateral or unilateral infusions
APPLICATIONS
- General stereotaxic, medium-to-low specificity target regions
MARKET
- Academia, Core facilities
Related Applications
Tracing Studies
Targeting neuronal structures is important for both visualizing as well as understanding the relationship between various signaling pathways in the brain. Using either anterograde or retrograde tracers, this allows for tracing of the axon-to-terminal signaling or from the axon terminal back to the cell bodies of interest. Many pre- clinical tracing approaches are available such as the use of fluorescent tagging— popularly used in conjunction with an adeno- associated virus (AAV) for targeting nuclei of interest, to map the distribution and tropism of these nuclei with respect to surrounding structures. The use of stereotaxic manipulation is very common, if not critical, to localization of the desired target region(s), ensuring repeatability and specificity across subjects. Studying different pathologies, behavioral mechanisms, and overall response to external stimuli are some key examples of how tracing can be utilized to closely investigate the phenomena of interest. When patterns of pathway signaling can be identified and characterized, this leads to the development of several therapeutic interventions for the neurocognitive and neurodegenerative disorders we know today.
Genetic and Chemogenetic Modulation
Genetic and chemogenetic modulation are common applications where the use of proper stereotaxic tools is important for successful and repeatable structural targeting. While tracing studies may also incorporate aspects of genetic or chemogenetic modulation, some may strictly focus on baseline signaling behavior for general mapping purposes. More specifically however, genetic and chemogenetic targeting and modulation refers to the physical alteration of signaling patterns such as silencing or promoting excitation of nuclei to emulate certain disorders, or act as a therapeutic approach to rescue a compromised signaling process from a previously implemented genetic alteration to a subject (e.g. serotonin knock-down line). Genetic modulation chiefly refers to altering genetic makeup during the embryonic stage/in-utero or in a pre-natal development stage subject to model disease, for example. Chemogenetic modulation generally refers to temporary alteration of signaling/ structural homeostasis to understand up- or downstream effects, again to model disease, or better understand the contribution of a structure/nuclei to a specific circuit. Ensuring that genetic material is properly placed in the necessary target region, whether via syringe, micropipette, or by cannula, it is particularly critical in these applications as it can affect the entire developmental track of a subject, or produce unwanted silencing/excitation if a local infusion of material is off target.
Electrophysiology
Use of stereotaxic tools is useful for many applications in the electrophysiology space, such as placement of electrodes/tetrode arrays for neuronal recording in-vivo to study signaling behaviors such as during sleep, exploration, and social-sexual interactions. Reducing the level of invasiveness through careful, calculated surgical placement with the support of the appropriate stereotaxic setup ensures the least amount of mechanical damage to a subject or device during implantation. Further, for single- and multi-implantation of probes, electrodes, etc., leaning on the support of stereotaxic manipulation to accurately set the coordinates corresponding to the structure(s) of interest supports successful and representative data to be collected during behavioral studies and reduces unnecessary confounds due to misplacement.
Related Products
MICROSCOPY
WPI offers a range of microscopy options not only to support your stereotaxic surgeries, but for your histological analysis and verification.
ANESTHESIA
A wide portfolio for anesthesia is available to fit right into your workstation. From digital to traditional options, our systems provide accurate and safe isoflurane output to ensure the safety of both the subject and surgeon.
MICROINJECTION
For accurate, repeatable sample delivery, check out our microinjection range. WPI has manufactured the leading stereotaxic microinjectors, the UMP3 and NANOLITER, for over 30 years. Our gas tight microliter syringes, the NanoFilTM, offers the most accurate low-volume sample delivery on the market with zero dead volume, at a fraction of the cost to competitors.
