A new method has revolutionized our ability to map tissue fiber orientation and organization across tissues, diseases and sample preparations. An international group of researchers led by Marios Georgiadis from Stanford Medicine (CA, USA) has recently developed a simple, low-cost method for mapping tissue fibers at micrometer resolution. Originally designed to analyze brain sections, the novel method – called computational scattered light imaging (ComSLI) – has provided insights into neurodegeneration and demonstrated potential for analyzing tissues beyond the brain, contributing to a broader understanding of health and disease. Tissues are composed of networks of microscopic fibers, each with a specific orientation and organization that contributes to the tissue’s specialized function: for example, muscle fibers coordinate mechanical forces and brain fibers transmit signals that underlie cognition. However, existing methods for visualizing these fibers – such as diffusion MRI, electron microscopy and small-angle X-ray scattering – have drawbacks, forcing researchers to compromise when it comes to resolution, tissue volume, expense or sample preparation. To overcome the limitations of current methods, the research team developed ComSLI, an optical microscopy method that utilizes a directed rotating LED light and a high-resolution camera to recover fiber orientation maps from animal and human tissues, regardless of their age, storage conditions or the staining protocol used. ComSLI works under the principle that light scatters differently depending on the orientation of the material it passes through. By rotating this LED light and recording how that affects scattering, software algorithms can then recognize the scattered light patterns and produce…
