New Technique Offers Dynamic Insights into Myelin Pathology

Dynamic imaging of myelin pathology in physiologically preserved human brain tissue using third harmonic generation microscopy

Researchers from Amsterdam UMC (University Medical Center), Vrije University, the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and Nankai University in China have unveiled a groundbreaking imaging technique that promises to revolutionize the study of myelin pathology in human brain tissue. The study, published in the academic journal PLOS ONE, introduces third harmonic generation (THG) microscopy as a novel method to visualize myelin without the need for labels.

Myelin pathology is known to play a central role in disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS) among others. Despite this, the pathological mechanisms underlying these conditions are often difficult to unravel. Conventional techniques like immunohistochemistry or dye-based approaches, do not provide a temporal characterization of the pathophysiological aberrations responsible for myelin changes in human specimens.

To circumvent this issue, the researchers introduce a label-free, live-cell imaging approach using the VALO femtosecond pulsed 1050 nm laser to generate second harmonic generation (SHG) and third harmonic generation (THG) signals directly from myelin and axon-like structures.

Overall, the findings reveal that nonlinear live-cell imaging is a suitable setup for researching myelin morphology in neurological conditions like MS.