Cinematography of Brain Structures Prepared by Perfusion Staining

Brains of rats were stained by perfusion, frozen, and sectioned. Of more than 10 stains tried only thionin and a silver stain (Weil-Davenport) gave good contrast upon penetrating the brain by way of its vascular system. Each section was discarded but the exposed surface of the block was photographed as single frames on 16 mm motion picture film. Proper projection at 16 frames/sec was obtained by cutting 10-14 μ sections, with 3 exposures after each section. Thus the viewer could readily visualize neural organization in 3 dimensions. The method is valuable for teaching neuroanatomy and for determining the extent of lesions in neurological investigations.