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Updated: Mar 9, 2026
Intravascular Perfusion of Carbon Black Ink Allows Reliable Visualization of Cerebral Vessels
Published on: January 4, 2013
Reflection imaging of China ink-perfused brain vasculature using confocal laser-scanning microscopy after
R C Gutierre1,2, D Vannucci Campos1,2, R A Mortara3
1Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil.
Abstract:
Confocal laser-scanning microscopy is a useful tool for visualizing neurons and glia in transparent preparations of brain tissue from laboratory animals. Currently, imaging capillaries and venules in transparent brain tissues requires the use of fluorescent proteins. Here, we show that vessels can be imaged by confocal laser-scanning microscopy in transparent cortical, hippocampal and cerebellar preparations after clarification of China ink-injected specimens by the Spalteholz method. This method may be suitable for global, three-dimensional, quantitative analyses of vessels, including stereological estimations of total volume and length and of surface area of vessels, which constitute indirect approaches to investigate angiogenesis.
