Protocol for isolating young adult parvalbumin interneurons from the mouse brain for extraction of high-quality RNA

Dysfunction in the parvalbumin (PV) subclass of GABAergic interneurons is implicated in several neurodevelopmental disorders that evolve in severity with postnatal developmental stages. Understanding the molecular underpinnings of the postnatal changes in the function of PV interneurons has been limited by the difficulty in the isolation of pure adult PV interneurons and high-quality RNA. Here, we describe our protocol for the isolation of pure young adult PV interneurons and preparation of high-quality RNA from these cells. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Joseph et al. (2021). [Display omitted] •A protocol for isolation of fluorescently labeled young adult parvalbumin interneurons•FACS sorting of cortical/hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons•Generation of high-quality RNA for genome-wide sequencing Dysfunction in the parvalbumin (PV) subclass of GABAergic interneurons is implicated in several neurodevelopmental disorders that evolve in severity with postnatal developmental stages. Understanding the molecular underpinnings of the postnatal changes in the function of PV interneurons has been limited by the difficulty in the isolation of pure adult PV interneurons and high-quality RNA. Here, we describe our protocol for the isolation of pure young adult PV interneurons and preparation of high-quality RNA from these cells.