Figure 3: Procedures of making the auxiliary device for rat/mouse.
From: The “curved lead pathway” method to enable a single lead to reach any two intracranial targets
(a) Three points ((l1, h1), (l2, h2) and (l3, h3)) on the “curved lead pathway”, line X = 0 and line Y = h1 are drawn with AutoCAD software 2009(Autodesk Inc., San Francisco, California, USA) and printed. Line Y = h1 represents the 0 horizontal plane. (b) Place the curved lead (represented by a curved metal wire) horizontally on the drawing such that it overlaps with the “curved lead pathway”. (c) Place the carrier such that it completely touches the curved lead, and glue the carrier on the drawing such that its front end reaches line Y = h1. (d) Cut the part of the drawing with the glued carrier, and glue a piece of plastic to its back for reinforcement. The drawing and the piece of plastic are also used as one side of the “lead channel”. (e) The other side of the “lead channel” is made on the surface of the carrier using metal wire (black triangle), the width of the “lead channel” depends on the diameter of the curved lead. (f) Glue the handle (black arrow), through which the auxiliary tool is connected to the stereotaxic frame.
