Single-Neuron Labeling in Fixed Tissue and Targeted Volume Electron Microscopy

The structural complexity of nervous tissue makes it very difficult to unravel the connectivity between neural elements at different scales. Numerous methods are available to trace long-range projections at the light microscopic level, and to identify the actual synaptic connections at the electron microscopic level. However, correlating mesoscopic and nanoscopic scales in the same cell, cell population or brain region is a problematic, laborious and technically demanding task. Here we present an effective method for the 3D reconstruction of labeled subcellular structures at the ultrastructural level, after single-neuron labeling in fixed tissue. The brain is fixed by intracardial perfusion of aldehydes and thick vibratome sections (250 μm) are obtained. Single cells in these vibratome sections are intracellularly injected with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), so that the cell body and its processes can be identified. The thick sections are later flat-embedded in epoxy resin and re-sectioned into a series of thinner (7 μm) sections. The sections containing the regions of interest of the labeled cells are then imaged with automated focused ion beam milling and scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM), acquiring long series of high-resolution images that can be reconstructed, visualized, and analyzed in 3D. With this methodology, we can accurately select any cellular segment at the light microscopic level (e.g., proximal, intermediate or distal dendrites, collateral branches, axonal segments, etc.) and analyze its synaptic connections at the electron microscopic level, along with other ultrastructural features. Thus, this method not only facilitates the mapping of the synaptic connectivity of single-labeled neurons, but also the analysis of the surrounding neuropil. Since the labeled processes can be located at different layers or subregions, this method can also be used to obtain data on the differences in local synaptic organization that may exist at different portions of the labeled neurons.