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Disco Tech
14 November 2016

Disco Tech

Give or take a jellyfish, not many animals are naturally transparent. Great news if you’re squeamish, but unfortunate when it comes to diagnosing diseases. Modern microscopes struggle when it comes to 'seeing' deep inside tissues, where opaque chemicals like fats block out laser light. Yet this mouse brain is completely transparent, almost like glass. A soak in a chemical solution gave its fat molecules an electrical charge, so they could be sucked out with a blast of current. This tissue clearing technique, called iDISCO, helps 3D microscopy to reveal brain cells (blue) and blood vessels (yellow). A purple stain highlights amyloid plaques, waste material that often clogs brain signals leading to dementia. These 3D plaque patterns vary between different brains – subtleties which may eventually lead to personalised treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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