Long-term in vivo imaging of mouse spinal cord through an optically cleared intervertebral window

Wanjie Wu, Sicong He, Junqiang Wu, Congping Chen, Xuesong Li, Kai Liu and Jianan Y. Qu ()
Additional contact information
Wanjie Wu: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Sicong He: Southern University of Science and Technology
Junqiang Wu: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Congping Chen: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Xuesong Li: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Kai Liu: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Jianan Y. Qu: The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract The spinal cord accounts for the main communication pathway between the brain and the peripheral nervous system. Spinal cord injury is a devastating and largely irreversible neurological trauma, and can result in lifelong disability and paralysis with no available cure. In vivo spinal cord imaging in mouse models without introducing immunological artifacts is critical to understand spinal cord pathology and discover effective treatments. We developed a minimally invasive intervertebral window by retaining the ligamentum flavum to protect the underlying spinal cord. By introducing an optical clearing method, we achieve repeated two-photon fluorescence and stimulated Raman scattering imaging at subcellular resolution with up to 15 imaging sessions over 6–167 days and observe no inflammatory response. Using this optically cleared intervertebral window, we study neuron-glia dynamics following laser axotomy and observe strengthened contact of microglia with the nodes of Ranvier during axonal degeneration. By enabling long-term, repetitive, stable, high-resolution and inflammation-free imaging of mouse spinal cord, our method provides a reliable platform in the research aiming at interpretation of spinal cord physiology and pathology.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29496-x Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-29496-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29496-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().