Making bone transparent

Abstract

Scientists have developed a biochemical process that renders bones transparent and then used it to visualize the bone-cell-proliferating action of a new osteoporosis drug (Sci. Transl. Med. 2017, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aah6518). In addition to enabling the study of drug effects on bone cells, the feat could provide an unprecedented view of the processes in bone cell growth and death. The team, led by Caltech biology and biological engineering professor Viviana Gradinaru, based its bone-clearing strategy on a soft-tissue-clarifying method called Clarity, which Gradinaru helped develop as a postdoc in Karl Deisseroth’s lab at Stanford University. In recent years, numerous scientists have made significant progress in being able to remove light-scattering lipids from brains and other soft-tissue constructs. The ability to visualize clear, intact soft tissue has great advantages over examining tissue slices because the structures and cells within remain connected and undisturbed. Bones, however, have been tougher to render transparent than