3D imaging in the postmortem human brain with CLARITY and CUBIC.

ABSTRACT

Recent innovations in tissue clearing and imaging technologies have enabled us to analyse biological systems directly in three-dimensions using thick samples. In this review, we discuss two of these recently reported tissue-clearing technologies (CLARITY and CUBIC) that are compatible with archival formalin-fixed human brain materials that have been fixed in formalin for a long period of time. We will discuss the pros and cons of these two technologies, examples of visualisation of Alzheimer neuropathological hallmarks and the exact protocols that we regularly use in the laboratory.