Name: multiphoton microscopy of cleared mouse brain expressing yfp
Uploaded: 2012-09-23T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Multiphoton Microscopy of Cleared Mouse Brain Expressing YFP at JoVE.com

We would like to thank Jacob Solis for his assistance in video editing.
This work was funded in part by an NSF CAREER Award DBI-0953902 to MJ Levene.

1. Animal Perfusion5 and Whole Mouse Brain Clearing
<ol>
	<li>The entire length of the procedure can vary depending on the length of time used per dehydration step, but in total the whole process can be conducted in two days.</li>
	<li>Weigh YFP mice and then deeply anesthetize with an intraperitoneal injection of ketamine/xylazine (100 mg/kg:10 mg/kg).</li>
	<li>Confirm a surgical plane of deep anesthesia before proceeding to surgery. Check the animal every 5 min to see if it reacts to a firm toe or tai...

<ol>
	<li>Parra, S. G., Chia, T. H., Zinter, J. P., Levene, M. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Multiphoton+microscopy+of+cleared+mouse+organs.">Multiphoton microscopy of cleared mouse organs.</a> J. Biomed. Opt. 15, 036017 (2010).</li><li>Vesuna, S., Torres, R., Levene, M. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Multiphoton+fluorescence,+second+harmonic+generation,+and+fluorescence+lifetime+imaging+of+whole+cleared+mouse+organs.">Multiphoton fluorescence, second harmonic generation, and fluorescence lifetime imaging of whole cleared mouse organs.</a> J. Biomed. Opt. 16, 106009 (2011).</li><li>Zucker, R. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Whole+insect+and+mammalian+embryo+imaging+with+confocal+microscopy:+Morphology+and+apoptosis.">Whole insect and mammalian embryo imaging with confocal microscopy: Morphology and apoptosis.</a> Cytometry. A69, 1143-1152 (2006).</li><li>Sakhalkar, H. S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+imaging+in+bulk+tissue+specimens+using+optical+emission+tomography:+Fluorescence+preservation+during+optical+clearing.">Functional imaging in bulk tissue specimens using optical emission tomography: Fluorescence preservation during optical clearing.</a> Phys. Med. Biol. 52, 2035-2054 (2007).</li><li>Dazai, J., Spring, S., Cahill, L. S., Henkelman, R. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Multiple-mouse+Neuroanatomical+Magnetic+Resonance+Imaging.">Multiple-mouse Neuroanatomical Magnetic Resonance Imaging.</a> J. Vis. Exp. (48), e2497 (2011).</li><li>Pologruto, T. A., Sabatini, B. L., Svoboda, K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=ScanImage:+flexible+software+for+operating+laser+scanning+microscopes.">ScanImage: flexible software for operating laser scanning microscopes.</a> Biomed. Eng. Online. 2, (2003).</li><li>Paxinos, G., Franklin, K. B. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> The Mouse Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates. , (2001).</li><li>Abramoff, M. D., Magelhaes, P. J., Ram, S. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Image+Processing+with+ImageJ.">Image Processing with ImageJ.</a> Biophotonics International. 11, 36-42 (2004).</li><li>Feng, G., Mellor, R. H., Bernstein, M., Keller-Peck, C., Nguyen, Q. T., Wallace, M., Nerbonne, J. M., Lichtman, J. W., Sanes, J. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Imaging+Neuronal+Subsets+in+Transgenic+Mice+Expressing+Multiple+Spectral+Variants+of+GFP.">Imaging Neuronal Subsets in Transgenic Mice Expressing Multiple Spectral Variants of GFP.</a> Neuron. 28, 41-51 (2000).</li><li>Hama, H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Scale:+a+chemical+approach+for+fluorescence+imaging+and+reconstruction+of+transparent+mouse+brain.">Scale: a chemical approach for fluorescence imaging and reconstruction of transparent mouse brain.</a> Nat. Neuro. 14, 1481-1488 (2011).</li></ol>

While standard organic dyes are compatible with a range of organic solvents, and therefore do not pose a particular challenge for clearing protocols, fluorescent proteins are often less tolerant of changes in solvent.4 The goal of the present work was to overcome a serious limitation of previous optical clearing protocols where fluorescence of XFPs was lost or severely degraded. The images that are presented here demonstrate that fluorescence from YFP was preserved. The optical clearing technique described ...

<table border="1">
<tbody>
 <tr>
 <td>Name 			of the reagent</td>
 <td>Company</td>
 <td>Catalog 			number</td>
 <td>Comments</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Phosphate 			Buffered Saline </td>
 <td>Sigma-Aldrich, 			Inc.</td>
 <td>D8537</td>
 <td>500 ml, pH 7.2</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Paraformaldehyde </td>
 <td>Electron 			Microscopy Sciences</td>
 <td>15710</td>
 <td>10 x 10 ml, 			16% paraformaldehyde</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ethyl alcohol</td>
 <td>American 			Bioanalytical</td>
 <td>AB00515-00500</td>
 <td>500 ml, 200 			proof</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Ethyl alcohol</td>
 <td>Pharmco 			Products, Inc.</td>
 <td>111000190</td>
 <td>1 gal., 190 			proof</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Benzyl alcohol</td>
 <td>Sigma-Aldrich, 			Inc.</td>
 <td>402834</td>
 <td>500 ml, 99+%</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>Benzyl 			benzoate</td>
 <td>Sigma-Aldrich, 			Inc.</td>
 <td>B6630-IL</td>
 <td>500 ml, &ge; 99%</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>5X/0.5 NA 			objective</td>
 <td>Nikon</td>
 <td>AZ Plan Flour 			5X</td>
 <td>15 WD</td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

multiphoton microscopy of cleared mouse brain expressing yfp

Multiphoton microscopy of intrinsic fluorescence and second harmonic generation (SHG) of whole mouse organs is made possible by optically clearing the organ before imaging.1,2 However, for organs that contain fluorescent proteins such as GFP and YFP, optical clearing protocols that use methanol dehydration and clear using benzyl alcohol:benzyl benzoate (BABB) while unprotected from light3 do not preserve the fluorescent signal. The protocol presented here is a novel way in which to perform whole organ optical clearing on mouse brain while preserving the fluorescence signal of YFP expressed in neurons. Altering the optical clearing protocol such that the organ is dehydrated using an ethanol graded series has been found to reduce the damage to the fluorescent proteins and preserve their fluorescent signal for multiphoton imaging.4 Using an optimized method of optical clearing with ethanol-based dehydration and clearing by BABB while shielded from light, we show high-resolution multiphoton images of yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) expression in the neurons of a mouse brain more than 2 mm beneath the tissue surface.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Multiphoton Microscopy of Cleared Mouse Brain Expressing YFP at JoVE.com

Multiphoton Microscopy of Cleared Mouse Brain Expressing YFP

Multiphoton microscopy of whole mouse organs is possible by optically clearing the organ before imaging, but not all protocols preserve the fluorescent signal of fluorescent proteins. Using an optical clearing method with ethanol-based dehydration and benzyl alcohol:benzyl benzoate clearing, we show high-resolution multiphoton images of whole mouse brain expressing YFP.

Multiphoton microscopy of intrinsic fluorescence and second harmonic generation (SHG) of whole mouse organs is made possible by optically clearing the ...

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