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Nappies to Neurons
28 January 2015

Nappies to Neurons

The polymer granules inside babies’ nappies are exceptionally absorbent, capable of holding up to 300 times their own weight in water (or pee). But, scientists have come up with a wholly different purpose for this remarkable swelling material: expanding tissue samples for microscopy. This ingenious concept – which involves fluorescently labelling the tissue, incorporating the polymer, chopping up the cell structures (so they don’t resist expansion) and then adding water – increases a sample’s size equally in all directions by up to five times. Shown is an expanded sample of mouse brain containing neurons (green) and synapses (red and blue). Importantly, the technique allows researchers to see greater detail than would normally be possible with a regular light microscope. Other methods to achieve such 'super-resolution' images exist, but they require specialised, expensive equipment. With the new tissue-swelling technique, on the other hand, it might cost the price of a box of Pampers.

Written by Ruth Williams

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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