An improved method with a long-shanked glass micropipette and ultrasonography for drug injection into deep brain structure of the monkey.

We describe an improved method to inject drug into deep brain structure of the macaque monkey. A Teflon-coated tungsten wire for extracellular recording was passed through a long-shanked (4-5 cm) glass micropipette, which was then attached to a microsyringe with dental impression material. The surface of the micropippete was coated with Teflon to reduce acoustic artifact in ultrasound imaging. Thereby, it was possible to identify the micropipette in the brain with B-mode ultrasonography. Extracellular recording combined with electrical stimulation in the input source of the target nucleus was also helpful to determine the location of the micropipette. Here, we demonstrate injection of a neuronal tracer, wheat germ agglutinin conjugated to horseradish peroxidase, into the medial mammillary nucleus of the Japanese monkey.