Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences, Volume. 17, Issue 2, 2350018(2024)

MACS-W: A modified optical clearing agent for imaging 3D cell cultures

Xiang Zhong1,2, Chao Gao1,2, Hui Li1,2, Yuening He1,2, Peng Fei2,3, Zaozao Chen4,5, Zhongze Gu4,5, Dan Zhu1,2, and Tingting Yu1,2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics – MoE Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, P. R. China
  • 2Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics – Advanced Biomedical Imaging Facility, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, P. R. China
  • 3School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430074, P. R. China
  • 4State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, P. R. China
  • 5Institute of Biomaterials and Medical Devices, Southeast University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215163, P. R. China
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    Three-dimensional (3D) cell cultures have contributed to a variety of biological research fields by filling the gap between monolayers and animal models. The modern optical sectioning microscopic methods make it possible to probe the complexity of 3D cell cultures but are limited by the inherent opaqueness. While tissue optical clearing methods have emerged as powerful tools for investigating whole-mount tissues in 3D, they often have limitations, such as being too harsh for fragile 3D cell cultures, requiring complex handling protocols, or inducing tissue deformation with shrinkage or expansion. To address this issue, we proposed a modified optical clearing method for 3D cell cultures, called MACS-W, which is simple, highly efficient, and morphology-preserving. In our evaluation of MACS-W, we found that it exhibits excellent clearing capability in just 10min, with minimal deformation, and helps drug evaluation on tumor spheroids. In summary, MACS-W is a fast, minimally-deformative and fluorescence compatible clearing method that has the potential to be widely used in the studies of 3D cell cultures.

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    Xiang Zhong, Chao Gao, Hui Li, Yuening He, Peng Fei, Zaozao Chen, Zhongze Gu, Dan Zhu, Tingting Yu. MACS-W: A modified optical clearing agent for imaging 3D cell cultures[J]. Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences, 2024, 17(2): 2350018

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    Paper Information

    Category: Research Articles

    Received: Mar. 30, 2023

    Accepted: Jun. 6, 2023

    Published Online: Apr. 19, 2024

    The Author Email: Yu Tingting (yutingting@hust.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.1142/S1793545823500189

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