Translational rapid ultraviolet-excited sectioning tomography for whole-organ multicolor imaging with real-time molecular staining

Rapid multicolor three-dimensional (3D) imaging for centimeter-scale specimens with subcellular resolution remains a challenging but captivating scientific pursuit. Here, we present a fast, cost-effective, and robust multicolor whole-organ 3D imaging method assisted with ultraviolet (UV) surface excitation and vibratomy-assisted sectioning, termed translational rapid ultraviolet-excited sectioning tomography (TRUST). With an inexpensive UV light-emitting diode (UV-LED) and a color camera, TRUST achieves widefield exogenous molecular-specific fluorescence and endogenous content-rich autofluorescence imaging simultaneously while preserving low system complexity and system cost. Formalin-fixed specimens are stained layer by layer along with serial mechanical sectioning to achieve automated 3D imaging with high staining uniformity and time efficiency. 3D models of all vital organs in wild-type C57BL/6 mice with the 3D structure of their internal components (e.g., vessel network, glomeruli, and nerve tracts) can be reconstructed after imaging with TRUST to demonstrate its fast, robust, and high-content multicolor 3D imaging capability. Moreover, its potential for developmental biology has also been validated by imaging entire mouse embryos (similar to 2 days for the embryo at the embryonic day of 15). TRUST offers a fast and cost-effective approach for high-resolution whole-organ multicolor 3D imaging while relieving researchers from the heavy sample preparation workload.

Automated summary

TRUST is a fast, cost-effective, and robust multicolor whole-organ 3D imaging method that achieves fluorescence imaging of exogenous molecular-specific and endogenous autofluorescence simultaneously. It offers fast and high-content multicolor 3D imaging capability for vital organs and developmental biology samples.