Super-resolved fluorescence imaging of peripheral nerve

Traditional histopathologic evaluation of peripheral nerve employs brightfield microscopy with diffraction limited resolution of ~ 250 nm. Though electron microscopy yields nanoscale resolution of the nervous system, sample preparation is costly and the technique is incompatible with living samples. Super-resolution microscopy (SRM) comprises a set of imaging techniques that permit nanoscale resolution of fluorescent objects using visible light. The advent of SRM has transformed biomedical science in establishing non-toxic means for investigation of nanoscale cellular structures. Herein, sciatic nerve sections from GFP-variant expressing mice, and regenerating human nerve from cross-facial autografts labelled with a myelin-specific fluorescent dye were imaged by super-resolution radial fluctuation microscopy, stimulated emission depletion microscopy, and structured illumination microscopy. Super-resolution imaging of axial cryosections of murine sciatic nerves yielded robust visualization myelinated and unmyelinated axons. Super-resolution imaging of axial cryosections of human cross-facial nerve grafts demonstrated enhanced resolution of small-caliber thinly-myelinated regenerating motor axons. Resolution and contrast enhancement afforded by super-resolution imaging techniques enables visualization of unmyelinated axons, regenerating axons, cytoskeleton ultrastructure, and neuronal appendages of mammalian peripheral nerves using light microscopes.