Whole-body tissue stabilization and selective extractions via tissue-hydrogel hybrids for high-resolution intact circuit mapping and phenotyping
To facilitate fine-scale phenotyping of whole specimens, we describe here a set of tissue fixation-embedding, detergent-clearing
and staining protocols that can be used to transform excised organs and whole organisms into optically transparent samples
within 1–2 weeks without compromising their cellular architecture or endogenous fluorescence. PACT (passive CLARITY technique)
and PARS (perfusion-assisted agent release in situ) use tissue-hydrogel hybrids to stabilize tissue biomolecules during selective
lipid extraction, resulting in enhanced clearing efficiency and sample integrity. Furthermore, the macromolecule permeability
of PACT- and PARS-processed tissue hybrids supports the diffusion of immunolabels throughout intact tissue, whereas RIMS
(refractive index matching solution) grants high-resolution imaging at depth by further reducing light scattering in cleared
and uncleared samples alike. These methods are adaptable to difficult-to-image tissues, such as bone (PACT-deCAL), and to
magnified single-cell visualization (ePACT). Together, these protocols and solutions enable phenotyping of subcellular
components and tracing cellular connectivity in intact biological networks.
Download: pdf
Text Reference
Jennifer B Treweek, Ken Y Chan, Nicholas C Flytzanis, Bin Yang, Benjamin E Deverman, Alon Greenbaum, Antti Lignell, Cheng Xiao, Long Cai, Mark S Ladinsky, Pamela J Bjorkman, Charless C Fowlkes, and Viviana Gradinaru. Whole-body tissue stabilization and selective extractions via tissue-hydrogel hybrids for high-resolution intact circuit mapping and phenotyping. Nature Protocols, 10(11):1860–1896, October 2015. URL: http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nprot.2015.122, doi:10.1038/nprot.2015.122.BibTeX Reference
@article{TreweekCFYDGLXCLBFG_NP_2015,author = "Treweek, Jennifer B and Chan, Ken Y and Flytzanis, Nicholas C and Yang, Bin and Deverman, Benjamin E and Greenbaum, Alon and Lignell, Antti and Xiao, Cheng and Cai, Long and Ladinsky, Mark S and Bjorkman, Pamela J and Fowlkes, Charless C and Gradinaru, Viviana",
title = "Whole-body tissue stabilization and selective extractions via tissue-hydrogel hybrids for high-resolution intact circuit mapping and phenotyping",
url = "http://www.nature.com/doifinder/10.1038/nprot.2015.122",
volume = "10",
number = "11",
doi = "10.1038/nprot.2015.122",
journal = "Nature Protocols",
month = "October",
year = "2015",
pages = "1860--1896",
tag = "biological_images"
}