Optical clearing of archive-compatible paraffin embedded tissue for multiphoton microscopy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Histopathology
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Standard histopathology methods, including paraffin embedding, are generally incompatible with thick tissue multiphoton imaging.
• Conventional tissue clearing techniques often result in the destruction of crucial molecular information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the feasibility of multiphoton imaging in specimens prepared using standard histopathology techniques.
• To enable unlabeled 3-dimensional (3D) histology on archival tissue banks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized standard histopathology preparation methods (e.g., paraffin embedding).
• Applied multiphoton imaging techniques to prepared tissue specimens.
• Developed or adapted clearing techniques compatible with both histopathology and imaging.

Main Results:

• Successfully performed multiphoton imaging on histopathologically prepared specimens.
• Achieved unlabeled 3D histology on archival tissues.
• Preserved molecular information during the imaging process.

Conclusions:

• Multiphoton imaging can be effectively applied to standard histopathology specimens.
• This approach provides a valuable method for evaluating prognostic indicators in archival tissue.
• Opens new avenues for research using existing tissue banks without compromising molecular data.