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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Whole-Kidney Three-Dimensional Staining with CUBIC
Published on: July 18, 2022
Comprehensive three-dimensional analysis (CUBIC-kidney) visualizes abnormal renal sympathetic nerves after
Sho Hasegawa1, Etsuo A Susaki2, Tetsuhiro Tanaka1
1Division of Nephrology and Endocrinology, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract:
The sympathetic nervous system is critical in maintaining the homeostasis of renal functions. However, its three-dimensional (3D) structures in the kidney have not been elucidated due to limitation of conventional imaging methods. CUBIC (Clear, Unobstructed Brain/Body Imaging Cocktails and Computational analysis) is a newly developed tissue-clearing technique, which enables whole-organ 3D imaging without thin-sectioning. Comprehensive 3D imaging by CUBIC found that sympathetic nerves are primarily distributed around arteries in the mouse kidney. Notably, the sympathetic innervation density was significantly decreased 10 days after ischemia-reperfusion injury (voluminal ratio of innervation area to kidney) by about 70%. Moreover, norepinephrine levels in kidney tissue (output of sympathetic nerves) were significantly reduced in injured kidneys by 77%, confirming sympathetic denervation after ischemia-reperfusion injury. Time-course imaging indicated that innervation partially recovered although overall denervation persisted 28 days after injury, indicating a continuous sympathetic nervous abnormality during the progression of chronic kidney disease. Thus, CUBIC-kidney, the 3D imaging analysis, can be a strong imaging tool, providing comprehensive, macroscopic perspectives for kidney research.
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