Researchers have developed a sugar-water solution that can turn tissues transparent in about three days, without affecting the tissue's shape or structure. They say that the transparent tissue coupled with fluorescence microscopy provided detailed images of mouse brain for their study.

The study was conducted by researchers from RIKEN Center for Developmental biology, who have now found a way to get a better look at tissues without damaging the cells. For years, experts have been trying to make biological tissues transparent, which could help study the finer details of the tissue.  

"However, these clearing techniques have limitations because they induce chemical and morphological damage to the sample and require time-consuming procedures," said Dr. Takeshi Imai, lead author of the study.

The new solution called SeeDB is an aqueous fructose solution developed by Imai and colleagues Dr. Meng-Tsen Ke and Dr. Satoshi Fujimoto. The scientists were able to get a transparent brain tissue sample in just three days. The solution turned the tissue transparent without damaging its structure or the fluorescent dye.

They were easily able to look at the neuronal circuit of the brain without making mechanical sections of the brain tissue. The team reported that they could see the circuits of mitral cells in the olfactory bulb at a single-fiber resolution.

 "Because SeeDB is inexpensive, quick, easy and safe to use, and requires no special equipment, it will prove useful for a broad range of studies, including the study of neuronal circuits in human samples," the authors said.

The study, "SeeDB: a simple and morphology-preserving optical clearing agent for neuronal circuit reconstruction" is published in Nature Neuroscience