AsianScientist (July 20, 2017) – Obtaining high resolution images of the whole mouse brain typically takes up to a week, but researchers at Osaka University have now developed a method to do the same in just two and half hours. Their findings have been published in Neuron.
To fully understand the brain, it is important to be able to visualize changes in anatomy and activity across the whole brain. However, current attempts to image a whole mouse brain at a resolution high enough to gain detailed information take up to one week. While these approaches have revealed important insights into brain function, it is not possible to image and analyze multiple brains with these technologies. Comparing multiple brains is essential to understand neurobiological function and dysfunction in brain disorders.
In the present study, researchers have developed block-face serial microscopy tomography (FAST), an imaging system that can image a whole mouse brain at high spatial resolution in less than two and a half hours.
“FAST consists of a spinning disk confocal microscope with built in microslicer and a method for processing image data,” explained first author Dr. Kaoru Seiriki. “With our 3D reconstruction technique, whole brains can be visualized at a resolution high enough to resolve individual cells and their subcellular structures.”
By combining their FAST technique with specific staining procedures, Seiriki and colleagues were able to visualize subcellular nuclei, vascular structures, mature oligodendrocytes, myelin sheaths, interneurons, and projecting neurons throughout the whole brain. These imaging tools provide a systemic approach to investigating the pathophysiological mechanisms of different brain diseases.
FAST is a very quick imaging technique, therefore it can potentially be used to image non-human primate brains.
“We successfully visualized a long-range neuronal projection at a subcellular resolution in the whole brain of an adult marmoset,” said leading researcher Professor Hitoshi Hashimoto. “This shows how FAST can further our understanding of brain anatomy in rodents and primates.”
The Osaka University research team has also successfully imaged postmortem human brains using their FAST system.
“We expect that this approach will identify fine morphological abnormalities in diseased human brains that were previously unknown,” said Hashimoto.
The article can be found at: Seiriki et al. (2017) High-Speed and Scalable Whole-Brain Imaging in Rodents and Primates.
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Source: Osaka University.
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