RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB)

Contact: [email protected] Fax: +81-78-306-3090 RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology Improved tissue clearing solution for super-resolution imaging April 7, 2016–As biologists seek to gain further insights on subcellular structures deeply embedded in various tissues, high resolution fluorescence microscopy using various fluorescent markers has emerged as a powerful tool to ‘see’ inside tissues in three-dimension (3D). High resolution imaging remains challenging, however, as it is sensitive to light scattering and spherical aberrations, which in turn creates blurred or inaccurate images. To facilitate 3D imaging, especially of thicker tissue samples, several protocols for turning tissues transparent in a process called optical clearing, have been developed to reduce light scattering and spherical aberrations. While some optical clearing agents achieve very high tissue transparency, many clearing agents include harsh chemicals which can cause damage or swelling of tissues resulting in morphological changes to more delicate structures. Thus, these clearing agents are unsuited for visualizing subcellular features at high-resolution.