Japanese researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute recently made a truly sensational statement. They invented a chemical reagent that makes tissue cells of a living creature transparent
Scientists have long dreamed of looking inside organisms without performing autopsies and it looks like their dreams have come true.
Experiments have so far been carried out only on mouse embryos. The photo above shows a normal embryo (left) and an embryo whose tissues are devoid of dye (right) after the introduction of a substance codenamed Sca le A2.
The main purpose of the substance is to allow doctors and researchers to see the features of the brain, but according to scientists, the discovery has wide and simply fantastic possibilities. Dr. Atsushi Miyawaki states that the Sca le A2 can be used to see the liver, kidneys, heart, muscles, even in primates and humans. At the same time, the reagent is still too powerful to be used on living things. However, scientists are already creating a much softer version of the reagent, which will allow studying the work of living tissues.
The discovery was described in the latest issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.