Researchers create see-through mouse and rat bodies

Scientists have found a way to make see-through mice — but don’t worry, these critters won’t be scampering in your kitchen.

The transparent rodents aren’t alive and they’re for research only, to help researchers study fine details of anatomy.

The method is based on tissue clearing procedures that can produce see-through bodily organs for study.

Since the 1800s, scientists have tried to make transparent tissues . They did this by precisely cutting thin cross sections of organs, mounting them on slides and examining the result, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“That’s been useful but it’s also been slow and tedious,” said senior study author Viviana Gradinaru, an assistant professor of biology and biological engineering at Caltech.

In light of the current developments in tissue clearing, scientists have been studying organ structures and nerve connections without slicing the samples, giving researchers new ideas on the previously concealed anatomical structures.

Researchers dissolve fats, or lipids, that make the tissues opaque to render bodies and organs completely transparent. To accomplish this feat, samples are exposed to detergents.

“If you remove the lipids and don’t do anything else, the entire tissue collapses, because the lipids are in a way the skeleton of a building,” Gradinaru said.

To preserve the tissues’ form, scientists penetrate the sample with a hydrogel. The hydrogel compound forms lattices of polymer chains that cling to proteins and other compounds, creating a gelatin-like supporting structure.

After the process, the lipids can be drained from the sample.

Previously, techniques have depended on submerging tissue samples in solutions that remove lipids. However, Gradinaru said her team said was successful in hastening the method by streaming the detergent and hydrogel through the circulatory system.

They have named their method PARS, or perfusion-assisted agent release in situ.

Prior clearing techniques damaged tissues and took a prolonged period of time to accomplish.

Gradinaru said the latest method prevented the usual damage. If an animal is genetically infused with fluorescent protein genes, the technique can still be used as the clearing compounds do not affect them.

Agencies/Canadajournal