See-through brains clarify connections

A chemical treatment that turns whole organs transparent offers a big boost to the field of ‘connectomics’ — the push to map the brain’s fiendishly complicated wiring. Scientists could use the technique to view large networks of neurons with unprecedented ease and accuracy. The technology also opens up new research avenues for old brains that were saved from patients and healthy donors.

Helen Shen
Nature 496, 151 (11 April 2013) doi:10.1038/496151a

Kwanghun Chung, et al
Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems
Nature (2013) doi:10.1038/nature12107