Summary
Published in Tissue Engineering Part C: Methods (2015), this peer-reviewed study used 3D Petri Dish® micro-molds to form scaffold-free 3D microtissues. Full citation: Boutin, Molly E., et al. Application and Assessment of Optical Clearing Methods for Imaging of Tissue-Engineered Neural Stem Cell Spheres
Application and Assessment of Optical Clearing Methods for Imaging of Tissue-Engineered Neural Stem Cell Spheres
Research Overview
Visualizing the interior of 3D cultures usually means sectioning, staining, imaging, and computational reconstruction. Tissue-clearing chemistry offers a shortcut by reducing opacity and light scattering. This study assessed three published clearing techniques — ClearT2, Scale, and SeeDB — on scaffold-free, self-assembled neural spheres formed from adult hippocampal neural stem cells.
Spheres of 100 µm diameter could be optically cleared and imaged intact, demonstrating that clearing methods developed for embryos and brains transfer to tissue-engineered neural spheroids and can reduce the need for physical sectioning in 3D culture workflows.
Key Discoveries
- ClearT2, Scale, and SeeDB clearing methods evaluated on tissue-engineered neural spheres
- 100 µm self-assembled neural stem cell spheres imaged intact after clearing
- Optical clearing reduced the need for physical sectioning of 3D samples
