Blanke Nathan, Go Veronica, Rosene Douglas L, Bigio Irving J
Boston University, Neurophotonics Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Boston University School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Neurophotonics. 2021 Jan;8(1):015010. doi: 10.1117/1.NPh.8.1.015010. Epub 2021 Mar 22.
Myelin breakdown is likely a key factor in the loss of cognitive and motor function associated with many neurodegenerative diseases. New methods for imaging myelin structure are needed to characterize and quantify the degradation of myelin in standard whole-brain sections of nonhuman primates and in human brain. Quantitative birefringence microscopy (qBRM) is a label-free technique for rapid histopathological assessment of myelin structural breakdown following cortical injury in rhesus monkeys. We validate birefringence microscopy for structural imaging of myelin in rhesus monkey brain sections, and we demonstrate the power of qBRM by characterizing the breakdown of myelin following cortical injury, as a model of stroke, in the motor cortex. Birefringence microscopy is a valuable tool for histopathology of myelin and for quantitative assessment of myelin structure. Compared to conventional methods, this label-free technique is sensitive to subtle changes in myelin structure, is fast, and enables more quantitative assessment, without the variability inherent in labeling procedures such as immunohistochemistry.
髓磷脂分解很可能是许多神经退行性疾病相关认知和运动功能丧失的关键因素。需要新的髓磷脂结构成像方法来表征和量化非人类灵长类动物标准全脑切片以及人类大脑中髓磷脂的降解情况。定量双折射显微镜（qBRM）是一种无需标记的技术，用于对恒河猴皮质损伤后髓磷脂结构破坏进行快速组织病理学评估。我们验证了双折射显微镜在恒河猴脑切片中对髓磷脂进行结构成像的能力，并通过将皮质损伤作为中风模型，在运动皮质中表征髓磷脂分解情况，展示了qBRM的强大功能。双折射显微镜是用于髓磷脂组织病理学和髓磷脂结构定量评估的宝贵工具。与传统方法相比，这种无需标记的技术对髓磷脂结构的细微变化敏感、速度快，能够进行更定量的评估，且不存在免疫组织化学等标记程序中固有的变异性。
