Optical Clearing and Labeling for Light-sheet Fluorescence Microscopy in Large-scale Human Brain Imaging

Summary

The present protocol provides a step-by-step procedure for rapid and simultaneous optical clearing, muti-round labeling, and 3D volumetric reconstruction of tens of postmortem human brain sections by combining the (SWITCH - H₂O₂ - Antigen Retrieval - 2,2'-thiodiethanol [TDE]) SHORT tissue transformation technique with light-sheet fluorescence microscopy imaging in a routinely high-throughput protocol.

Abstract

Despite the numerous clearing techniques that emerged in the last decade, processing postmortem human brains remains a challenging task due to its dimensions and complexity, which make imaging with micrometer resolution particularly difficult. This paper presents a protocol to perform the reconstruction of volumetric portions of the human brain by simultaneously processing tens of sections with the SHORT (SWITCH - H₂O₂ - Antigen Retrieval - 2,2'-thiodiethanol [TDE]) tissue transformation protocol, which enables clearing, labeling, and sequential imaging of the samples with light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM). SHORT provides rapid tissue clearing and homogeneous multi-labeling of thick slices with several neuronal markers, enabling the identification of different neuronal subpopulations in both white and grey matter. After clearing, the slices are imaged via LSFM with micrometer resolution and in multiple channels simultaneously for a rapid 3D reconstruction. By combining SHORT with LSFM analysis within a routinely high-throughput protocol, it is possible to obtain the 3D cytoarchitecture reconstruction of large volumetric areas at high resolution in a short time, thus enabling comprehensive structural characterization of the human brain.

Introduction

Analyzing the 3D molecular organization and cytoarchitecture of large volumes of the human brain requires optical transparency of specimens, achieved through protocols with extensive processing time. Optical clearing techniques were developed to minimize heterogeneity in refractive index (RI) within the tissues, thereby reducing light scattering and increasing the light penetration depth for high-resolution imaging^1,2,3,4,5. Current advances in clearing and deep tissue-labeling methods allow volumetric imag....

Protocol

Formalin-fixed human tissue samples were provided by the Department of Neuropathology at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Autopsy Service (Boston, USA). Written consent was obtained from healthy participants prior to death, following IRB-approved tissue collection protocols from the Partners Institutional Biosafety Committee (PIBC, protocol 2003P001937). The authorization documents are kept with the MGH Autopsy Services in Boston, MA, United States, and are available upon request.

1. Agarose embedding and sample cutting

1. Prepare a 4% w/v agarose solution in 1x phosphate-buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4) in a ....

Results

The protocol described here enables the simultaneous treatment of multiple slices, ranging in thickness from 100 µm to 500 µm, using the SHORT method. This approach significantly reduces the overall processing time for the entire procedure. In this work, we provide a comprehensive description of the entire pipeline (Figure 1) for processing multiple postmortem human brain thick sections simultaneously and we demonstrate the protocol on 24 slices at once (Figure.......

Discussion

High-resolution imaging and 3D reconstruction of large human brain areas require mechanical tissue sectioning followed by optical clearing and immunolabeling of single slices. The protocol presented here describes how the SHORT tissue transformation method can be used for rapid and simultaneous processing of multiple human brain thick sections for 3D brain reconstruction with a subcellular resolution with LSFM.

Unlike other approaches, with the SHORT method the clearing and multi-labeling step.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
2,2'-thiodiethanol	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	166782
Acetamide >= 99.0% (GC)	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	160
Agarose High EEO	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	A9793
Boric Acid	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	B7901
Compressome VF-900-0Z Microtome	Precisionary	/
Coverslips	LaserOptex	/	customized
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt dihydrate	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	E5134
Glutaraldehyde	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	G7651
Glycine	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	SC_29096
Hydrogen Peroxide 30%	Merck Life Science S.R.L.
Incubator ISS-4075	Lab companion	/
Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM)	/	/	custom-made
Loctite Attak	Henkel Italia srl	/
Microscope slides	Laborchimica	/	customized
Phospate buffer saline tablet	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	P4417
Picodent Twinsil	Picodent	13005002	out of production
Potassium Hydrogen Phtalate	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	P1088
Sodium Azide	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	S2002
Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	L3771
Sodium Sulfite	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	S0505
Spacers	Microlaser srl		customized
Sputum Containers (dishes with screw lids)	Paul Boettger GmbH & Co. KG	07.061.2000
Tris Base	PanReac AppliChem (ITW reagents)	A4577,0500
Triton X-100	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	T8787
Tubes	Sarstedt	62 547254
Tween 20	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	P9416
Vibratome VT1000S	Leica Biosystem	/
Water bath	Memmert	WNB 7-45
Antibodies and Dyes
Alexa Fluor 488 AffiniPure Alpaca Anti-Rabbit IgG (H+L)	Jackson Immuno Reasearch	611-545-215	Dilution used, 1:200
Alexa Fluor 488 AffiniPure Bovine Anti-Goat IgG (H+L)	Jackson Immuno Reasearch	805-545-180	Dilution used, 1:200
Alexa Fluor 647 AffiniPure Alpaca Anti-Rabbit IgG (H+L)	Jackson Immuno Reasearch	611-605-215	Dilution used, 1:200
Anti-NeuN Antibody	Merck Life Science S.R.L.	ABN91	Dilution used, 1:100
Anti-Parvalbumin antibody (PV)	Abcam	ab32895	Dilution used, 1:200
Anti-Vimentin antibody [V9] - Cytoskeleton Marker (VIM)	Abcam	ab8069	Dilution used, 1:200
Calretinin Polyclonal antibody	ProteinTech	12278_1_AP	Dilution used, 1:200
DAPI	ThermoFisher	D3571	Dilution used, 1:100
Donkey Anti-Mouse IgG H&L (Alexa Fluor 568)	Abcam	ab175700	Dilution used, 1:200
Donkey Anti-Mouse IgG H&L (Alexa Fluor 647)	Abcam	ab150107	Dilution used, 1:200
Donkey Anti-Rabbit IgG H&L (Alexa Fluor 568)	Abcam	ab175470	Dilution used, 1:200
Donkey Anti-Rat IgG H&L (Alexa Fluor 568) preadsorbed	Abcam	ab175475	Dilution used, 1:200
Goat Anti-Chicken IgY H&L (Alexa Fluor 488)	Abcam	ab150169	Dilution used, 1:500
Goat Anti-Chicken IgY H&L (Alexa Fluor 568)	Abcam	ab175711	Dilution used, 1:500
Goat Anti-Chicken IgY H&L (Alexa Fluor 647)	Abcam	ab150171	Dilution used, 1:500
Goat Anti-Rabbit IgG H&L (Alexa Fluor 488)	Abcam	ab150077	Dilution used, 1:200
Recombinant Alexa Fluor 488 Anti-GFAP antibody	Abcam	ab194324	Dilution used, 1:200
Somatostatin Antibody YC7	Santa Cruz Biotechnology	sc-47706	Dilution used, 1:200
Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)	ProteinTech	16233-1-AP	Dilution used, 1:200