Cortical column and whole-brain imaging with molecular contrast and nanoscale resolution

Combining expansion and the lattice light sheet Optical and electron microscopy have made tremendous inroads into understanding the complexity of the brain. Gao et al. introduce an approach for high-resolution tracing of neurons, their subassemblies, and their molecular constituents over large volumes. They applied their method, which combines expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy, to the mouse cortical column and the entire Drosophila brain. The approach can be performed at speeds that should enable high-throughput comparative studies of neural development, circuit stereotypy, and structural correlations to neural activity or behavior. Science, this issue p. eaau8302 Combined expansion and lattice light-sheet microscopy enables high-speed nanoscale molecular imaging of neural circuits. INTRODUCTION Neural circuits across the brain are composed of structures spanning seven orders of magnitude in size that are assembled from thousands of distinct protein types. Electron microscopy has imaged densely labeled brain tissue at nanometer-level resolution over near-millimeter-level dimensions but lacks the contrast to distinguish specific proteins and the speed to readily image multiple specimens. Conversely, confocal fluorescence microscopy offers molecular contrast but has insufficient resolution for dense neural tracing or the precise localization of specific molecular players within submicrometer-sized structures. Last, superresolution fluorescence microscopy bleaches fluorophores too quickly for large-volume imaging and also lacks the speed for effective brain-wide or cortex-wide imaging of multiple specimens. RATIONALE We combined two imaging technologies to address these issues. Expansion microscopy (ExM) creates an expanded, optically clear phantom of a fluorescent specimen that retains its original relative distribution of fluorescent tags. Lattice light-sheet microscopy (LLSM) then images this phantom in three dimensions with minimal photobleaching at speeds sufficient to image the entire Drosophila brain or across the width of the mouse cortex in ∼2 to 3 days, with multiple markers at an effective resolution of ∼60 by 60 by 90 nm for 4× expansion. RESULTS We applied expansion/LLSM (ExLLSM) to study a variety of subcellular structures in the brain. In the mouse cortex, we quantified the volume of organelles, measured morphological parameters of ~1500 dendritic spines, determined the variation of distances between pre- and postsynaptic proteins, observed large differences in postsynaptic expression at adjacent pyramidal neurons, and studied both the azimuthal asymmetry and layer-specific longitudinal variation of axonal myelination. In Drosophila, we traced the axonal branches of olfactory projection neurons across one hemisphere and studied the stereotypy of their boutons at the calyx and lateral horn across five animals. We also imaged all dopaminergic neurons (DANs) across the brain of another specimen, visualized DAN morphologies in all major brain regions, and traced a cluster of eight DANs to their termini to determine their respective cell types. In the same specimen, we also determined the number of presynaptic active zones (AZs) across the brain and the local density of all AZs and DAN-associated AZs in each brain region. CONCLUSION With its high speed, nanometric resolution, and ability to leverage genetically targeted, cell type–specific, and protein-specific fluorescence labeling, ExLLSM fills a valuable niche between the high throughput of conventional optical pipelines of neural anatomy and the ultrahigh resolution of corresponding EM pipelines. Assuming the development of fully validated, brain-wide isotropic expansion at 10× or beyond and sufficiently dense labeling, ExLLSM may enable brainwide comparisons of even densely innervated neural circuits across multiple specimens with protein-specific contrast at 25-nm resolution or better. Nanoscale brain-wide optical imaging. ExLLSM images neural structures with molecular contrast over millimeter-scale volumes, including (clockwise from top right) mouse pyramidal neurons and their processes; organelle morphologies in somata; dendritic spines and synaptic proteins across the cortex; stereotypy of projection neuron boutons in Drosophila; projection neurons traced to the central complex; and (center) dopaminergic neurons across the brain, including the ellipsoid body (circular inset). Optical and electron microscopy have made tremendous inroads toward understanding the complexity of the brain. However, optical microscopy offers insufficient resolution to reveal subcellular details, and electron microscopy lacks the throughput and molecular contrast to visualize specific molecular constituents over millimeter-scale or larger dimensions. We combined expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy to image the nanoscale spatial relationships between proteins across the thickness of the mouse cortex or the entire Drosophila brain. These included synaptic proteins at dendritic spines, myelination along axons, and presynaptic densities at dopaminergic neurons in every fly brain region. The technology should enable statistically rich, large-scale studies of neural development, sexual dimorphism, degree of stereotypy, and structural correlations to behavior or neural activity, all with molecular contrast.