快猫短视频

NOW we can see stroke damage in 3D. A technique that turns mouse brains transparent has given us the most detailed view yet of how stroke cuts off the blood supply in the brain.

Stroke damages the brain鈥檚 blood vessels, stopping oxygen and nutrients reaching cells. To understand this impact, researchers usually examine thin brain slices under the microscope.

Now Dirk Hermann and Matthias Gunzer at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany and their team have developed a way to see all of a brain鈥檚 blood vessels clearly, without having to slice it up. They injected a fluorescent gel into the hearts of mice, waited for it to be pumped around the body, and then removed the brains and soaked them in chemicals. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e left with a brain that is clear like glass,鈥� says Hermann.

The team looked at each brain under a microscope, lighting up the fluorescent gel using a laser (Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, ).

The brains of mice that had experienced a stroke provided the first-ever 3D view of how stroke cuts off the blood supply to parts of the brain. 鈥淵ou could see which capillaries had died and how the surviving ones were reorganising themselves,鈥� says Gunzer.

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淭ransparent brains reveal stroke damage鈥�