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Updated: Mar 15, 2026

Whole-Kidney Three-Dimensional Staining with CUBIC
Published on: July 18, 2022
Multiphoton microscopy with clearing for three dimensional histology of kidney biopsies
Eben Olson1, Michael J Levene2, Richard Torres1
1Dept of Laboratory Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
Abstract:
We present a multiphoton microscopy approach with clearing optimized for pathology evaluation producing image quality comparable to traditional histology. Use of benzyl alcohol/benzyl benzoate with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole and eosin in an optimized imaging setup results in optical sections nearly indistinguishable from traditionally-cut sections. Application to human renal tissue demonstrates diagnostic-level image quality can be maintained through 1 millimeter of tissue. Three dimensional perspectives reveal changes of glomerular capsule cells not evident on single sections. Collagen-derived second harmonic generation can be visualized through entire biopsies. Multiphoton microscopy with clearing has potential for increasing the yield of histologic evaluation of biopsy specimens.

