Methods of peripheral nerve tissue preparation for second harmonic generation imaging of collagen fibers

Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging of the peripheral nerve using multi-photon microscopy is a novel technique with little documentation. It affords the significant possibility of non-destructive imaging of internal nerve anatomy. The nature of nerve tissue, especially its size and viscoelastic properties, present special challenges for microscopy. While nerves are under an innate in situ strain, they retract once dissected, thus distorting microscopic structure. The challenge is to preserve the nerve in its natural strain range to obtain images that most truly reveal its structure. This study examined backscattered SHG images of rat median nerve prepared by several different methods to compare image quality and content. Nerve segments were fixed under strained (constant load or length) and unstrained conditions and imaged as whole nerve as well as plastic (methyl methacrylate) and paraffin embedded sections. These were tested for optimal excitation wavelength, quantitative image contrast, and overall quality. Root mean squared (RMS) contrast proved to be a reliable measure of the level of image contrast perceived by eye. We concluded that images obtained from tissue sections (plastic and paraffin) provided the most accurate and revealing SHG images of peripheral nerve structure. Removing the embedding material prior to imaging significantly improved image quality. Optimal excitation wavelengths were consistent regardless of the preparation method.