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Cai, R. ; Kolabas, Z.I. ; Pan, C. ; Mai, H. ; Zhao, S. ; Kaltenecker, D. ; Voigt, F.F.* ; Molbay, M. ; Ohn, T.-L. ; Vincke, C.* ; Todorov, M.I. ; Helmchen, F.* ; Van Ginderachter, J.A.* ; Ertürk, A.

Whole-mouse clearing and imaging at the cellular level with vDISCO.

Nat. Protoc. 18, 1197-1242 (2023)
DOI PMC
Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Homeostatic and pathological phenomena often affect multiple organs across the whole organism. Tissue clearing methods, together with recent advances in microscopy, have made holistic examinations of biological samples feasible. Here, we report the detailed protocol for nanobody(VHH)-boosted 3D imaging of solvent-cleared organs (vDISCO), a pressure-driven, nanobody-based whole-body immunolabeling and clearing method that renders whole mice transparent in 3 weeks, consistently enhancing the signal of fluorescent proteins, stabilizing them for years. This allows the reliable detection and quantification of fluorescent signal in intact rodents enabling the analysis of an entire body at cellular resolution. Here, we show the high versatility of vDISCO applied to boost the fluorescence signal of genetically expressed reporters and clear multiple dissected organs and tissues, as well as how to image processed samples using multiple fluorescence microscopy systems. The entire protocol is accessible to laboratories with limited expertise in tissue clearing. In addition to its applications in obtaining a whole-mouse neuronal projection map, detecting single-cell metastases in whole mice and identifying previously undescribed anatomical structures, we further show the visualization of the entire mouse lymphatic system, the application for virus tracing and the visualization of all pericytes in the brain. Taken together, our vDISCO pipeline allows systematic and comprehensive studies of cellular phenomena and connectivity in whole bodies.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Review
Corresponding Author
ISSN (print) / ISBN 1754-2189
e-ISSN 1750-2799
Journal Nature Protocols
Quellenangaben Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Pages: 1197-1242 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher Nature Publishing Group
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine (ITERM)
Institute of Diabetes and Cancer (IDC)