Applying real-time monitoring of circadian oscillations in adult mouse brain slices to study communications between brain regions.

This protocol combines a protective cutting method to prepare various brain slices from adult mice and real-time monitoring of circadian oscillations to measure circadian rhythmicity in various brain slices. This protocol can be applied to studies of how brain damages affect local circadian clocks and subsequent circadian variations in nearby areas. Further functional analyses with in vivo systems will determine whether these circadian variations are detrimental or beneficial to the brain. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Huang et al. (2020).