PAOLO GIACOBINI

MASTER OF SEX” WHOLE-BODY CLEARING AND 3D IMAGING SHED NEW LIGHT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEURONS CONTROLLING FERTILITY

Traditional histological examination of brain systems and networks has long relied on tissue sectioning and analyses of thin serial slices that presents limitations for large volumetric imaging. In the past few years several groups have developed protocols to render tissues “optically transparent” thereby minimising light scatter and allowing inspection of neural networks within intact specimens usually lost in 2D optics.

We combined new solvent-based optical clearing techniques with whole-mount immunolabelling and light-sheet laser scanning microscopy to study the development of a unique population of neurons essential for vertebrate reproductive function. In addition, we show that three-dimensional imaging of solvent-cleared organs (3DISCO) enables high resolution immunolabelled imaging of entire organs of human fetuses, during the first trimester of gestation.

This study provides the first high-resolution 3D-atlas of the human fetal development and opens new windows of studying neuronal network formation in physiological and pathological conditions.

Paolo GIACOBINI
(¹Inserm, Laboratory of Development and Plasticity of the Neuroendocrine Brain, Jean-Pierre Aubert Research Centre, U1172, Lille 59045, France)