Chemistry in Pictures: A window into the nervous system

When you really need a clear squid hatchling, what do you reach for? A system developed by a team of researchers in Vienna may present a compelling option. The team calls it DEpigmEntation-Plus-Clearing, or DEEP-Clear for short, and they say it removes a wide range of naturally occurring biological pigments including pterins, ommochromes, heme, carotenoids, and melanin while remaining compatible with several staining and fluorescence-labeling techniques. Here, they’ve cleared a longfin inshore squid, applied an immunohistochemistry label to its nervous system, and captured this 3-D image using light-sheet microscopy, which captures a series of 2-D images and then stacks them into a 3-D model. The researchers say DEEP-Clear will help scientists study the intricate connectivity of difficult systems in intact organisms.

Credit: Science Advances 2020, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0365 CC BY-NC

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