The Incredible Growing Brain!

The Incredible Grow Your Own Brain (Barron Bob)Using super absorbent material from disposable diapers, MIT neuroengineers Ed Boyden, Fei Chen, and Paul Tillberg went well beyond the garden variety novelty store "Grow Brain" to expand real brain slices to nearly five times their normal size.Boyden, E., Chen, F. & Tillberg, P. / MIT / Courtesy of NIHA slice of a mouse brain (left) was expanded by nearly five-fold in each dimension by adding a water-soaking salt. The result — shown at smaller magnification (right) for comparison — has its anatomical structures are essentially unchanged. (Nature - E. Callaway)As covered by Ewan Callaway in Nature:Blown-up brains reveal nanoscale detailsMaterial used in diaper absorbant can make brain tissue bigger and enable ordinary microscopes to resolve features down to 60 nanometres.Microscopes make living cells and tissues appear bigger. But what if we could actually make the things bigger? It might sound like the fantasy of a scientist who has read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland too many times, but the concept is the basis for a new method that could enable biologists to image an entire brain in exquisite molecular detail using an ordinary microscope, and to resolve features that would normally be beyond the limits of optics.The technique, called expansion microscopy, involves physically inflating biological tissues using a material more commonly found in baby nappies (diapers).. . .“What we’ve been trying to do is figure...

Source: The Neurocritic - January 10, 2015 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs