DISCO Fever

The result of techniques improved over several years by scientists around the world, this mouse kidney is almost completely transparent, save for its intricate network of blood vessels. DISCO is a method for 'clearing' tissues – flushing opaque molecules away, but leaving behind clearly visible structures like arteries or nerves. Since its development several years ago, different DISCOs have been announced – this kidney is pictured under a high-powered microscope using the brand new FDISCO. Tweaking the temperature and pH of the original method, FDISCO preserves the kidney’s fluorescent stain for longer, so samples can be investigated for months (rather than days) using gentle light sheet microscopy. Long enough, perhaps, to count this kidney’s 15,740 glomeruli – tiny knots of blood vessels (yellow) which help the kidney to filter the blood – or examine its structures for signs of disease.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Video from work by Yisong Qi and Tingting Yu, and colleagues
• Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
• Video originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY-NC 4.0)
• Published in Science Advances, January 2019