Fig. 1.

Expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was used to target locus ceruleus (LC) neurons. A: fluorescence photomicrograph of a pontine slice from a P2 Prp57 transgenic mouse pup that expressed GFP in the LC. Fluorescently labeled neurons appear as a densely packed elongated nucleus at the level of the fourth ventricle (4V; arrowheads) lateral to the midline (scale bar, 200 μm). Inset: the region bilaterally excised for primary cell culture. B–C: the dendritic processes and cell bodies of individual neurons (arrows) are seen at high magnification (scale bars, 100 μm and 20 μm, B and C, respectively). D: neurons in culture were targeted for patch-clamp recordings using visible light Nomarski differential interference contrast (DIC) and fluorescence (scale bar, 50 μm).