3D Microscopy of Murine Bone Marrow Hematopoietic Tissues

Abstract

The soft marrow tissues, which are found disseminated throughout bone cavities, are prime sites for hematopoietic cell production, development, and control of immune responses, and regulation of skeletal metabolism. These essential functions are executed through the concerted and finely tuned interaction of a large variety of cell types of hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic origin, through yet largely unknown sophisticated molecular mechanisms. A fundamental insight of the biological underpinnings of organ function can be gained from the microscopic study of the bone marrow (BM), its complex structural organization and the existence of cell-specific spatial associations. Albeit the application of advanced imaging techniques to the analysis of BM has historically proved challenging, recent technological developments now enable the interrogation of organ-wide regions of marrow tissues in three dimensions at high resolution. Here, we provide a detailed experimental protocol for the generation of thick slices of BM from murine femoral cavities, the immunostaining of cellular and structural components within these samples, and their optical clearing, which enhances the depth at which optical sectioning can be performed with standard confocal microscopes. Collectively, the experimental pipeline here described allows for the rendering of single-cell resolution, multidimensional reconstructions of vast volumes of the complex BM microenvironment.