A carbon nanotube tape for serial-section electron microscopy of brain ultrastructure

Yoshiyuki Kubota (), Jaerin Sohn, Sayuri Hatada, Meike Schurr, Jakob Straehle, Anjali Gour, Ralph Neujahr, Takafumi Miki, Shawn Mikula and Yasuo Kawaguchi
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Yoshiyuki Kubota: Division of Cerebral Circuitry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Jaerin Sohn: Division of Cerebral Circuitry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Sayuri Hatada: Division of Cerebral Circuitry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences
Meike Schurr: Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research
Jakob Straehle: Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research
Anjali Gour: Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research
Ralph Neujahr: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH, ZEISS Microscopy Customer Center Europe
Takafumi Miki: Doshisha University
Shawn Mikula: Electrons–Photons–Neurons, Max-Planck Institute of Neurobiology
Yasuo Kawaguchi: Division of Cerebral Circuitry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Automated tape-collecting ultramicrotomy in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a powerful approach for volume electron microscopy and three-dimensional neuronal circuit analysis. Current tapes are limited by section wrinkle formation, surface scratches and sample charging during imaging. Here we show that a plasma-hydrophilized carbon nanotube (CNT)-coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tape effectively resolves these issues and produces SEM images of comparable quality to those from transmission electron microscopy. CNT tape can withstand multiple rounds of imaging, offer low surface resistance across the entire tape length and generate no wrinkles during the collection of ultrathin sections. When combined with an enhanced en bloc staining protocol, CNT tape-processed brain sections reveal detailed synaptic ultrastructure. In addition, CNT tape is compatible with post-embedding immunostaining for light and electron microscopy. We conclude that CNT tape can enable high-resolution volume electron microscopy for brain ultrastructure analysis.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02768-7

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