Imaging Serotonergic Fibers in the Mouse Spinal Cord Using the CLARITY/CUBIC Technique

Summary

Supraspinal projections are important for pain perception and other behaviors, and serotonergic fibers are one of these fiber systems. The present study focused on the application of the combined CLARITY/CUBIC protocol to the mouse spinal cord in order to investigate the termination of these serotonergic fibers.

Abstract

Long descending fibers to the spinal cord are essential for locomotion, pain perception, and other behaviors. The fiber termination pattern in the spinal cord of the majority of these fiber systems have not been thoroughly investigated in any species. Serotonergic fibers, which project to the spinal cord, have been studied in rats and opossums on histological sections and their functional significance has been deduced based on their fiber termination pattern in the spinal cord. With the development of CLARITY and CUBIC techniques, it is possible to investigate this fiber system and its distribution in the spinal cord, which is likely to reveal previously unknown features of serotonergic supraspinal pathways. Here, we provide a detailed protocol for imaging the serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord using the combined CLARITY and CUBIC techniques. The method involves perfusion of a mouse with a hydrogel solution and clarification of the tissue with a combination of clearing reagents. Spinal cord tissue was cleared in just under two weeks, and the subsequent immunofluorescent staining against serotonin was completed in less than ten days. With a multi-photon fluorescent microscope, the tissue was scanned and a 3D image was reconstructed using Osirix software.

Introduction

Supraspinal projections are responsible for the modulation of diverse behaviors such as pain perception. One of the projections carrying nociceptive information contains serotoninergic fibers, which originate from the hindbrain raphe and adjacent reticular nuclei^1,2. Physiological and pharmacological studies have demonstrated an increased release of serotonin in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord after electrical stimulation of the raphe nuclei in the hindbrain^3-5. In the rat and opossum, serotonergic raphespinal fibers have dense terminals, not only in the dorsal horn^6-8, but also in the intermediate zone^7,9,10, the ventral....

Protocol

Ethics Statement: All procedures involving animal subjects follow the guidelines of the Animal Care and Ethics Committee (ACEC) at The University of New South Wales (the approved ACEC number is 14/94A).

1. Preparation of the Transparent Mouse Spinal Cord

1. Preparation of Ice Cold Hydrogel Solution
   1. Preparation of 16% paraformaldehyde solution (PFA)
      1. Add 16 g paraformaldehyde powder into 70 ml pre-warmed distilled water (50-55 °C) and stir on a heated magnetic stirrer until paraformaldehyde is dissolved. Note: Do not allow the solution to heat over 55 °C and be aware that paraformaldehyde is t....

Results

This section shows results from serotonin antibody staining in the transparent mouse spinal cord using a combination of the CLARITY and CUBIC protocols. We show that serotonergic fibers are present in all laminae of the spinal cord with a predominance in the ventral portion of the ventral horn (Figure 1, also see Video 1). The control tissue did not have positive fibers (result was not shown). In the ventral horn, densely packed serotonergic fibers are pr.......

Discussion

The protocol described shows how to image serotonergic fibers in the mouse spinal cord with the combined CLARITY and CUBIC techniques. It introduces a faster clearing process compared to the passive clearing protocol developed by Cheung et al.¹⁴ and Tomer et al.¹⁵ and allows the spinal cord tissue to be well supported by the hydrogel during clearing.

An important step during fixation of the mouse spinal cord, as reported by Cheung et al.^{14 .......}

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Photoinitiator VA044	Wako	va-044/225-02111	http://www.wako-chem.co.jp/specialty/waterazo/VA-044.htm
40% acrylamide solution	Bio Rad	161-0140	http://www.bio-rad.com/en-au/sku/161-0140-40-acrylamide-solution
2% Bis Solution	Bio Rad	161-0142	http://www.bio-rad.com/en-au/sku/161-0142-2-bis-solution?parentCategoryGUID=5e7a4f31- 879c-4d63-ba0b-82556a0ccf1d
paraformaldehyde	Sigma	158127	http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sial/158127?lang=en®ion=AU
urea	Merck Millipore	66612	http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Urea---CAS-57-13-6---Calbiochem,EMD_BIO-66612
N,N,N’,N’-tetrakis (2-hydroxypropyl) ethylenediamine	Merck Millipore	821940	http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Ethylenediamine-N,N,N',N'-tetra-2-propanol,MDA_CHEM-821940
Triton-X 100	Merck Millipore	648462	http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/TRITON®-X-100-Detergent---CAS-9002-93-1---Calbiochem,EMD_BIO-648462
sucrose	Sigma	S0389	http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/s0389?lang=en®ion=AU
serotonin antibody	Merck Millipore	AB938	http://www.merckmillipore.com/AU/en/product/Anti-Serotonin-Antibody,MM_NF-AB938
goat anti rabbit IgG (H+L) Secondary Antibody, Alexa Fluor® 594 conjugate	Life Technologies	A-11012	https://www.lifetechnologies.com/order/genome-database/antibody/Rabbit-IgG-H-L-Secondary-Antibody-Polyclonal/A-11012
multi-photon microscope	Leica	Leica TCS SP5 MP STED	http://www.leica-microsystems.com/products/confocal-microscopes/details/product/leica-tcs-sp5-mp/