Objective To describe a practical and reliable surgical procedure to dissect dorsal root ganglions and sympathetic ganglions from living rats. Methods Sixty two male Wistar rats were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of pentobarbital. When stripping dorsal root ganglions, the rat was in pronation. The paravertebral muscles were detached, and after careful laminectomy the intervertebral foramen was opened, thus the dorsal root ganglion can be exposed and dissected. When stripping sympathetic ganglions, the rat was in supine. After opening the right thoracic cavity, the sympathetic trunk should be found, then to expose and dissect the sympathetic ganglions. Results Operation to dissect dorsal root ganglions was performed on 41 rats. The cell culture of ganglion cells succeeded in all 41 cases. Operation to dissect sympathetic ganglions was carried out on 21 rats. The cell culture of ganglion ceils was successful in 19 cases and failed in 2 cases because of contaimination during cell culture. Conclusion The above described surgical procedures are useful and reliable to obtain dorsal root ganglions and sympathetic ganglions from living rats, with well kept viability and activity of the ganglion ceils.