Preparation and Manipulation of Olfactory Epithelium Explant Cultures for Measurement of the Mechanical Tension of Individual Axons Using the Biomembrane Force Probe

In this paper, we describe a protocol allowing measurement of the mechanical tension of individual axons grown ex vivo from neural tissue explants. This protocol was developed with primary cultures of olfactory epithelium explants from embryonic (E13.5) mice. It includes a detailed description of explant dissection and culture, as well as the main steps of the procedure for axon tension measurement using the previously established Biomembrane Force Probe.