aCSF recipe for 1 L or 500 mL

Artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) is an external solution used during brain-slice electrophysiology. This table shows the EphysCalc default recording recipe. It stays as a reference when you edit the calculator above; use the calculator results for your modified recipe.

How to scale the aCSF recipe

Set the final volume in mL above. A 500 mL batch uses half the additions of a 1 L batch while keeping the same final concentrations. For each compound, choose powder or stock and enter the molecular weight or stock concentration from your reagent. Stock volumes count toward the final volume: make up to 1 L, rather than adding the ingredients to 1 L of water.

Why does the salt form matter?

Anhydrous and hydrated salts have different molecular weights, so the same target concentration can require a different powder mass. Match the calculator’s molecular weight to the bottle before weighing. When adding a prepared stock, enter its actual molarity; the required volume depends on that concentration.

Which aCSF formulation should I use?

Recording, cutting and recovery solutions can use different compositions. Match the concentrations and preparation procedure to your experimental protocol. For this bicarbonate-buffered recipe, check pH under the intended gas and temperature conditions and measure final osmolality. Calculated additions do not replace those measurements.

Papouin and Haydon’s published protocol illustrates different aCSF formulations for slicing, recovery and recording. It provides preparation context, not the source of this exact EphysCalc preset. Read Obtaining Acute Brain Slices (2018).

Preparing a cutting solution? See the sucrose cutting recipe or NMDG cutting recipe.