Three-dimensional Imaging of the Unsectioned Adult Spinal Cord to Assess Axon Regeneration and Glial Responses After Injury

Overview

Journal Nat Med

Specialties General Medicine
Molecular Biology

Date 2011 Dec 27

PMID 22198277

Citations 154

Authors

Ali Erturk

Christoph P Mauch

Farida Hellal

Friedrich Forstner

Tara Keck

Klaus Becker

Nina Jahrling

Heinz Steffens

Melanie Richter

Mark Hubener

Edgar Kramer

Frank Kirchhoff

Hans Ulrich Dodt

Frank Bradke

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Studying regeneration in the central nervous system (CNS) is hampered by current histological and imaging techniques because they provide only partial information about axonal and glial reactions. Here we developed a tetrahydrofuran-based clearing procedure that renders fixed and unsectioned adult CNS tissue transparent and fully penetrable for optical imaging. In large spinal cord segments, we imaged fluorescently labeled cells by 'ultramicroscopy' and two-photon microscopy without the need for histological sectioning. We found that more than a year after injury growth-competent axons regenerated abundantly through the injury site. A few growth-incompetent axons could also regenerate when they bypassed the lesion. Moreover, we accurately determined quantitative changes of glial cells after spinal cord injury. Thus, clearing CNS tissue enables an unambiguous evaluation of axon regeneration and glial reactions. Our clearing procedure also renders other organs transparent, which makes this approach useful for a large number of preclinical paradigms.

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