Cai, R. et al. Nat Neurosci 22, 317–327 (2019)

A number of DISCO methods, various histological applications of “three-dimensional imaging of solvent-cleared organs” have emerged in recent years that are letting researchers see into and through whole organisms. Opaque tissues are made transparent and fluorescent proteins light up the underlying details, but imaging resolution can still present a challenge. The latest iteration from Ali Erturk’s lab gets small.

Writing in Nature Neuroscience, Erturk and his collaborators present vDISCO—the ‘v’ stands for ‘nanobody (VhH)-boosted.’ The addition of the nanobody enhances the signal of the fluorescent proteins, allowing the researchers to see subcellular details through bones and skin and also visualize neuronal projections throughout the body of intact mice. They applied vDISCO to visualize the effects of traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, and stroke.