A Clearing Technique to Enhance Endogenous Fluorophores in Skin and Soft Tissue

Fluorescent proteins are used extensively in transgenic animal models to label and study specific cell and tissue types. Expression of these proteins can be imaged and analyzed using fluorescent and confocal microscopy. Conventional confocal microscopes cannot penetrate through tissue more than 4–6 ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-10, Vol.9 (1), p.15791-8, Article 15791
Main Authors: Foster, Deshka S., Nguyen, Alan T., Chinta, Malini, Salhotra, Ankit, Jones, R. Ellen, Mascharak, Shamik, Titan, Ashley L., Ransom, R. Chase, da Silva, Oscar L., Foley, Eliza, Briger, Emma, Longaker, Michael T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
13
14
14/63
631/1647/328
631/532
Animal models
Animals
Benzoates - chemistry
Confocal microscopy
Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry
Fluorophores
Humanities and Social Sciences
Imaging, Three-Dimensional
Mice
Mice, Transgenic
Microscopes
Microscopy, Confocal
multidisciplinary
Preservation
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Skin - cytology
Skin - metabolism
Tissues
Transgenic animals
Wound healing
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Summary:Fluorescent proteins are used extensively in transgenic animal models to label and study specific cell and tissue types. Expression of these proteins can be imaged and analyzed using fluorescent and confocal microscopy. Conventional confocal microscopes cannot penetrate through tissue more than 4–6 μm thick. Tissue clearing procedures overcome this challenge by rendering thick specimens into translucent tissue. However, most tissue clearing techniques do not satisfactorily preserve expression of endogenous fluorophores. Using simple adjustments to the BABB (Benzoic Acid Benzyl Benzoate) clearing methodology, preservation of fluorophore expression can be maintained. Modified BABB tissue clearing is a reliable technique to clear skin and soft tissue specimens for the study of dermal biology, wound healing and fibrotic pathologies.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-50359-x