A1 Journal article (refereed)
Hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of three-dimensional vascular network architecture in the entire postnatal and adult mouse brain (2021)

Wälchli, T., Bisschop, J., Miettinen, A., Ulmann-Schuler, A., Hintermüller, C., Meyer, E. P., Krucker, T., Wälchli, R., Monnier, P. P., Carmeliet, P., Vogel, J., & Stampanoni, M. (2021). Hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of three-dimensional vascular network architecture in the entire postnatal and adult mouse brain. Nature Protocols, 16(10), 4564-4610. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-021-00587-1

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Wälchli, Thomas; Bisschop, Jeroen; Miettinen, Arttu; Ulmann-Schuler, Alexandra; Hintermüller, Christoph; Meyer, Eric P.; Krucker, Thomas; Wälchli, Regula; Monnier, Philippe P.; Carmeliet, Peter; et al.

Journal or series: Nature Protocols

ISSN: 1754-2189

eISSN: 1750-2799

Publication year: 2021

Publication date: 03/09/2021

Volume: 16

Issue number: 10

Pages range: 4564-4610

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-021-00587-1

Research data link: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13483119

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access: 

Web address of parallel published publication (pre-print): https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.19.344903v2

Abstract

The formation of new blood vessels and the establishment of vascular networks are crucial during brain development, in the adult healthy brain, as well as in various diseases of the central nervous system. Here, we describe a step-by-step protocol for our recently developed method that enables hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of vascular networks in postnatal and adult mouse brains. The different stages of the procedure include resin-based vascular corrosion casting, scanning electron microscopy, synchrotron radiation and desktop microcomputed tomography imaging, and computational network analysis. Combining these methods enables detailed visualization and quantification of the 3D brain vasculature. Network features such as vascular volume fraction, branch point density, vessel diameter, length, tortuosity and directionality as well as extravascular distance can be obtained at any developmental stage from the early postnatal to the adult brain. This approach can be used to provide a detailed morphological atlas of the entire mouse brain vasculature at both the postnatal and the adult stage of development. Our protocol allows the characterization of brain vascular networks separately for capillaries and noncapillaries. The entire protocol, from mouse perfusion to vessel network analysis, takes ~10 d.

Keywords: angiogenesis; blood vessels; brain; imaging; tomography; computed tomography

Free keywords: angiogenesis; brain; neuro–vascular interactions; neurological models; X-ray tomography

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

VIRTA submission year: 2021

JUFO rating: 1