The CLARITY process turns brains transparent, allowing doctors to carry
out postmortem examinations without needing to slice the brain itself.
The technique, developed by researchers at Stanford University, involves chemically removing the opaque lipids from the brain and replacing them with a clear hydrogel. To complete the process, the intact brain in immersed in a hydrogel solution, allowing the hydrogel monomers to infuse the brain tissue. When the brain is heated, the monomers congeal into a mesh that holds everything in the brain together—except the lipids, which are then extracted using an electric field.
According to Thomas Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, "This feat of chemical engineering promises to transform the way we study the brain's anatomy and how disease changes it. No longer will the in-depth study of our most important three-dimensional organ be constrained by two-dimensional methods."
The technique, developed by researchers at Stanford University, involves chemically removing the opaque lipids from the brain and replacing them with a clear hydrogel. To complete the process, the intact brain in immersed in a hydrogel solution, allowing the hydrogel monomers to infuse the brain tissue. When the brain is heated, the monomers congeal into a mesh that holds everything in the brain together—except the lipids, which are then extracted using an electric field.
According to Thomas Insel, MD, director of the National Institute of Mental Health, "This feat of chemical engineering promises to transform the way we study the brain's anatomy and how disease changes it. No longer will the in-depth study of our most important three-dimensional organ be constrained by two-dimensional methods."
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