Innovative Center for Coherent Photon Technology (ICCPT)

Transparency by immersing living tissue pieces in a specific reagent is one of the promising techniques because it helps to observe the inside of the pieces without slicing. As a result, the risk of missing pathological tissue such as cancer is reduced. Furthermore, this eliminates the need for complicated specimen preparation, reducing time and costs.

The organ looks opaque because light is scattered like frosted glass. This is because the refractive index of the biological fluid is different from the cell nucleus and cell membrane that make up the cells of the organ. However, if the biological fluid has the same refractive index as the cell tissue, light scattering will be suppressed; that is, when the biological fluid is replaced with a clearing solution with the same refractive index as the cell tissue, the tissue will appear transparent.

However, conventional clearing liquids use organic solvents or degreasing components. Therefore, a loss of biological components is observed. As a result, no detailed biopsy is possible. Furthermore, the specimens take a long time to become transparent and they cannot be stored for an extended period due to tissue failure.

LUCID solves the above problems. LUCID does not contain toxic or flammable substances that could interfere with its use in biopsy. Living tissue pieces can become transparent in a short time just by immersing them in LUCID. LUCID does not cause tissue deformation during the transparency process. Furthermore, since LUCID can retain the original components of the organs, the red of hemoglobin iron in blood can be observed as it is.

In addition, LUCID will enable observation of the internal structures of plants, allowing it to be used extensively in botany and agriculture.

The LUCID solution is sold by Photon Tech Innovations Co., Ltd., a venture company from the University of Tokyo. (https://photontechinnovations.com/english)

LUCID: iILUmination of Cleared organs to IDentify target molecules