Deep tissue imaging: a review from a preclinical cancer research perspective

This review delves into the rapidly evolving field of deep tissue imaging at cellular resolution, reviewing popular tissue clearing and staining methods in combination with light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) including quantification and three-dimensional visualization tools, the field of applications and perspective, particularly with the focus on preclinical cancer research and drug development. The LSFM technique presented here allows an extremely fast optical sectioning for three-dimensional reconstruction of centimeter-sized tissue samples at cellular resolution. However, optical clearing methods are required to receive optical transparent tissue. Application of either tissue autofluorescence, in vivo fluorescence labeling, endogenous fluorescence or ex vivo whole-mount immunolabeling enables three-dimensional in situ visualization of morphological and functional features of unsectioned whole-mount tissue samples. This powerful and innovative imaging technique opens up a new dimension of tissue analysis providing detailed and comprehensive insights into biology. It enables the investigation of normal and pathological tissue features and disease progression and allows precise monitoring of potential therapeutic interventions in intact biological tissue on a cellular level.