Towards a comprehensive understanding of brain structure by correlative microscopy

Unraveling the complexity of brain structure is the biggest challenge of contemporary sciences. Thanks to their flexibility, optical techniques are the key to explore this intricate network. However, a single imaging technique can reveal only a small part of this machinery due to its inherent multi-level organization. To obtain a more comprehensive view of brain, complementary approaches have been combined. Light sheet based microscopy in combination with a new protocol for tissue clearing represent cutting edge method to map cerebral circuitry through optical sectioning of cleared mouse brains. On the other hand, dynamic information on the structural plasticity of neuronal networks has been contextualized in a wider framework combining two-photon and light-sheet microscopy. Finally, synaptic features have been revealed on previously in vivo imaged samples by correlative light-electron microscopy. In this presentation, we describe our recent advantages in correlative techniques proposing a wider methodological framework fusing multiple levels of brain investigation.