Scientists turn organs translucent to study the inner workings

If you’ve ever wondered what your organs look like from the inside, researchers have figured out a way to see that. Researchers in Germany have found a way to see the inside of human organs without slicing the tissue to create their three-dimensional models. That method, first reported by Nature Feb. 13, is known as 3DISCO, or 3D Imaging of Solvent-Cleared Organs.

Instead of cutting into the organs – a human eye, a kidney and a thyroid – and using the thin slices to create a model, Turkish neuroscientist Ali Ertürk, with other researchers at the Munich Helmholtz Centre in Germany, soaked the intact organs in a solution that removed the fat and pigments that usually make organs impenetrable by light. They made them translucent. Since July 2019, Ertürk has been director of the Helmholz Institute on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine and is credited with inventing the 3DISCO method to make biological samples more transparent.

Once that process was complete, the researchers made three dimensional models using a microscopy technique. Next, they put artificial intelligence to work. They used the microscopy technique to create snapshot images of the various tissues from the eye, thyroid and kidney. The algorithms they developed were then used to analyze the millions of cells they could see in the images they captured.

The fat and pigment stripping process, which consists of multiple steps, from dehydration to immersion in dibenzyl ether, allows dyes and molecules to get inside the organs and to make specific structures, like neurons and blood vessels easier to see. These processes allow researchers to see inside the organs and see things on a far more intricate level.

Researchers say this could help explain the differences between how human organs work when people are healthy and when they are sick.