New compounds make the body transparent

Scientists have successfully created a chemical that transforms the fetus and body parts into transparent blocks, allowing us to observe many activities in the living body.

National Geographic said that RIKEN Research Institute of Brain Science in Japan has created a new chemical capable of making tissues in the animal body become transparent. They call it Scale . Because light passes through the tissue, scientists can inject fluorescence into the tissue to monitor the cells.

The team claims their achievements could lead to a revolution in medical imaging.

Rat fetus is soaked in salt water (left) and the mouse fetus is transparent due to immersion in Scale solution (right). (Photo: National Geographic)

'Our experiments focus only on the rat brain, but the applications are not limited to mice and do not stop in the brain. We found the use of Scale for other organs such as heart, kidney, muscle of human and primates', said Atsushi Miyawaki, an expert of RIKEN Brain Institute.

Paul Thompson, a neuroscientist at the University of California School of Medicine in the US, said that internal organs and transparent mouse fetuses made him feel shocked.

Scale is made up of two simple ingredients: urea (a compound in urine) and glycerol (used as a solvent, desiccant, sweetener).

To turn the mouse or fetus into a transparent mass, the scientists immersed them in the Scale solution for two weeks.

Scientists have invented many substances to support medical imaging. However, the disadvantages of these substances are that they often destroy luminescent proteins. Meanwhile, scientists always use luminescent proteins to monitor neurons, blood vessels and body parts.

Thompson argues that Scale can also help scientists choose the most accurate images before using more complex techniques - such as tomography - for further research.

'I think Scale can help us keep track of whether the drug has reached its destination. For example, if you use dementia medicine, your goal is to clean up the plaque in the brain. Thanks to scale and luminescent protein, you can know if the drug has destroyed the plaque , 'he explained.

Miyawaki claims that Scale cannot create invisibility animals in the near future, because it is too toxic to living organisms.