IAC-USNC Methods in Neuroscience- crayfish NMJ dissection page 2

Dissecting the First Walking Leg: Removing the shell and covering tissues to expose the muscle Click HERE for a 2 minute video of this dissection (18MB).
A close-up view of the first walking leg, with the distal 3 segments (brown, orange and fuchsia arrows) glued down. The blue arrow points to the segment in which the nerve bundle is located.	The second segment under the dissecting microscope. The shell has been removed.	Removing the covering tissues from the second segment.
	Cutting away more of the shell on both sides of the second segment.
Less magnification. Much of the tissue overlying the second segment (orange arrow) muscle has been removed.	The remaining pieces of covering tissues are gently pulled away from over the muscle.	Less magnification. Ready for recording.	Less magnification. Three of the 4 segments are visible. The segment marked by the orange arrow has been dissected.
The shell will be removed from the segment shown by the blue arrow.	After cuts are made in the joint between the blue and fuchsia segments, the shell overlying the blue segment can be pulled off.	The shell is pulled back to expose the nerve bundle and some supporting tissues (light yellow arrow).	The shell is almost off.
The nerve bundle (light blue arrow) and supporting tissue are free of the shell.	A better view of the nerve bundle (light blue arrow) held back by the forceps.	The supporting tissue is removed. This is a close-up view of the nerve bundle as it enters the 3rd segment (the undissected segment labeled by the fuchsia arrow).	Less magnification. All 4 segments are visible. Left most segment is distal, right most segment (nerve bundle, blue arrow) is proximal.