Name: imaging serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord using the clarity/cubic technique
Uploaded: 2016-02-26T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Imaging Serotonergic Fibers in the Mouse Spinal Cord Using the CLARITY/CUBIC Technique at JoVE.com

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function (ARC Centre Grant CE140100007), an NHMRC project grant (#1086643). Prof. George Paxinos is supported by a Senior Principal Research Fellow NHMRC grant (#1043626).

Ethics Statement: All procedures involving animal subjects follow the guidelines of the Animal Care and Ethics Committee (ACEC) at The University of New South Wales (the approved ACEC number is 14/94A).
1. Preparation of the Transparent Mouse Spinal Cord
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	<li>Preparation of Ice Cold Hydrogel Solution
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		<li>Preparation of 16% paraformaldehyde solution (PFA)
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			<li>Add 16 g paraformaldehyde powder into 70 ml pre-warmed distilled water (50-55 &#176;C) and stir on a heated magn...

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The protocol described shows how to image serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord with the combined CLARITY and CUBIC techniques. It introduces a faster clearing process compared to the passive clearing protocol developed by Cheung et al.14 and Tomer et al.15 and allows the spinal cord tissue to be well supported by the hydrogel during clearing.
An important step during fixation of the mouse spinal cord, as reported by Cheung et al.14 ...

Supraspinal projections are responsible for the modulation of diverse behaviors such as pain perception. One of the projections carrying nociceptive information contains serotoninergic fibers, which originate from the hindbrain raphe and adjacent reticular nuclei1,2. Physiological and pharmacological studies have demonstrated an increased release of serotonin in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord after electrical stimulation of the raphe nuclei in the hindbrain3-5. In the rat and opossum, serotonergic raphespinal fibers have dense terminals, not only in the dorsal horn6-8, but also in the intermediate zone7,9,10, the ventral horn7,11, and even lamina 1012,13. There are no similar studies in the mouse. The present study aimed to map the termination pattern of serotonergic fibers arising from the hindbrain raphe nuclei and their adjacent reticular nuclei in the mouse spinal cord using the recently published CLARITY14 method and its modification - CUBIC15. 
Conventional fluorescence or peroxidase immunohistochemistry of the spinal cord clearly shows the distribution of serotonergic fibers in the gray matter of the spinal cord in 30-40 &#181;m thick cross-sections. However, this approach does not show the continuity of the serotonergic fiber tracts in the white matter and their collaterals in the gray matter. Although the 3D reconstruction of histological sections has advanced our knowledge of fiber tracts, it remains a challenge for histologists and anatomists to follow a single tract due to small distortions in the tissue caused by cutting. To circumvent this obstacle a number of researchers have developed various protocols for making the whole tissue structure transparent, and collecting an image of unaltered tissue in a single video file17-21. So far, the clear, lipid-exchanged, acrylamide-hybridized rigid, imaging/ immunostaining compatible, tissue hydrogel (CLARITY) technique, developed by Deisseroth's group14,15, as well as CUBIC, developed by Susaki et al16 are the most successful. Since the publication of the protocols, many researchers have started using these techniques to investigate various aspects of biological tissues, including, not only the brain22-25, but also the heart, kidneys, intestine, and the lungs26,27. 
By fixing the mouse spinal cord with the hydrogel solution (CLARITY) and clearing with the CUBIC reagents (which is a much faster method than that described by the original CLARITY protocol14,15), a spinal cord tissue block of 2-3 mm long was cleared within two weeks and immunofluorescence staining for serotonin completed in eight days. With just a combination of chemical agents, conventional immunohistochemistry can be used to create an image of individual fiber tracts in a 3D video file in approximately one month.

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			<td height="22" style="height:22px;width:495px;">Photoinitiator VA044</td>
			<td style="width:495px;">Wako</td>
			<td style="width:284px;">va-044/225-02111</td>
			<td style="width:807px;">http://www.wako-chem.co.jp/specialty/waterazo/VA-044.htm</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">40% acrylamide solution</td>
			<td>Bio Rad</td>
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			<td>http://www.bio-rad.com/en-au/sku/161-0140-40-acrylamide-solution</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">2% Bis Solution</td>
			<td>Bio Rad</td>
			<td>161-0142</td>
			<td>http://www.bio-rad.com/en-au/sku/161-0142-2-bis-solution?parentCategoryGUID=5e7a4f31-879c-4d63-ba0b-82556a0ccf1d</td>
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			<td>Sigma</td>
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			<td>http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sial/158127?lang=en&#38;region=AU</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">urea</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
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			<td>http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Urea---CAS-57-13-6---Calbiochem,EMD_BIO-66612</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">N,N,N&#8217;,N&#8217;-tetrakis (2-hydroxypropyl) ethylenediamine</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
			<td align="right">821940</td>
			<td>http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Ethylenediamine-N,N,N&#39;,N&#39;-tetra-2-propanol,MDA_CHEM-821940</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Triton-X 100</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
			<td align="right">648462</td>
			<td>http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/TRITON&#174;-X-100-Detergent---CAS-9002-93-1---Calbiochem,EMD_BIO-648462</td>
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			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>S0389</td>
			<td>http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/s0389?lang=en&#38;region=AU</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">2,2&#8217;,2&#8217;&#8217;- nitrilotriethanol</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
			<td align="right">137002</td>
			<td>http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Triethanolamine-(Trolamine),MDA_CHEM-137022</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">serotonin antibody</td>
			<td>Merck Millipore</td>
			<td>AB938</td>
			<td>http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Anti-Serotonin-Antibody,MM_NF-AB938</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">goat anti rabbit IgG (H+L) Secondary Antibody, Alexa Fluor&#174; 594 conjugate</td>
			<td>Life Technologies</td>
			<td>&#160;A-11012</td>
			<td>https://www.lifetechnologies.com/order/genome-database/antibody/Rabbit-IgG-H-L-Secondary-Antibody-Polyclonal/A-11012</td>
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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">multi-photon microscope</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>Leica TCS SP5 MP STED</td>
			<td>http://www.leica-microsystems.com/products/confocal-microscopes/details/product/leica-tcs-sp5-mp/</td>
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imaging serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord using the clarity/cubic technique

Long descending fibers to the spinal cord are essential for locomotion, pain perception, and other behaviors. The fiber termination pattern in the spinal cord of the majority of these fiber systems have not been thoroughly investigated in any species. Serotonergic fibers, which project to the spinal cord, have been studied in rats and opossums on histological sections and their functional significance has been deduced based on their fiber termination pattern in the spinal cord. With the development of CLARITY and CUBIC techniques, it is possible to investigate this fiber system and its distribution in the spinal cord, which is likely to reveal previously unknown features of serotonergic supraspinal pathways. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for imaging the serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord using the combined CLARITY and CUBIC techniques. The method involves perfusion of a mouse with a hydrogel solution and clarification of the tissue with a combination of clearing reagents. Spinal cord tissue was cleared in just under two weeks, and the subsequent immunofluorescent staining against serotonin was completed in less than ten days. With a multi-photon fluorescent microscope, the tissue was scanned and a 3D image was reconstructed using Osirix software.

This section shows results from serotonin antibody staining in the transparent mouse spinal cord using a combination of the CLARITY and CUBIC protocols. We show that serotonergic fibers are present in all laminae of the spinal cord with a predominance in the ventral portion of the ventral horn (Figure 1, also see Video 1). The control tissue did not have positive fibers (result was not shown). In the ventral horn, densely packed serotonergic fibers are pr...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Imaging Serotonergic Fibers in the Mouse Spinal Cord Using the CLARITY/CUBIC Technique at JoVE.com

Imaging Serotonergic Fibers in the Mouse Spinal Cord Using the CLARITY/CUBIC Technique

Supraspinal projections are important for pain perception and other behaviors, and serotonergic fibers are one of these fiber systems. The present study focused on the application of the combined CLARITY/CUBIC protocol to the mouse spinal cord in order to investigate the termination of these serotonergic fibers.

Long descending fibers to the spinal cord are essential for locomotion, pain perception, and other behaviors. The fiber termination pattern in the spinal ...

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