Computed tomography imaging of the neuronal structure of Drosophila brain.
The neural circuit of the central nervous system (CNS) primarily determines brain functions and, as a consequence, controls animal behavior. This paper describes an X-ray microtomographic analysis of the Drosophila larvae CNS, visualizing the neural network embedded in the three-dimensional structure of the nerve tissue. In fluorescence confocal microscopy, absorbance at emission or excitation wavelengths interferes with the fluorescence detection. In contrast, transparency of the nerve tissue to hard X-rays enables tomographic analysis of the intact CNS without sectioning. Yet the nerve tissue is composed of light elements that give little contrast in a hard X-ray transmission image. The contrast was enhanced by staining neuropils in the CNS with metal elements. The obtained structure revealed the internal architecture of the CNS. This metal-staining microtomographic analysis can be applied to any nerve tissues, thereby shedding light on the underlying structural basis of neural functions.
Mizutani
Ryuta
R
Department of Applied Biochemistry, School of Engineering, Tokai University, 1117 Kitakaname, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa 259-1292, Japan. ryuta@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp
Takeuchi
Akihisa
A
Hara
Tomohiro
T
Uesugi
Kentaro
K
Suzuki
Yoshio
Y
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D007814:Larva / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009474:Neurons / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D017356:Synchrotrons; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*