Person:

Grant, Aaron

The axolotl can regenerate multiple organs, including the brain. It remains, however, unclear whether neuronal diversity, intricate tissue architecture, and axonal connectivity can be regenerated; yet, this is critical for recovery of function and a central aim of cell replacement strategies in the mammalian central nervous system. Here, we demonstrate that, upon mechanical injury to the adult pallium, axolotls can regenerate several of the populations of neurons present before injury. Notably, regenerated neurons acquire functional electrophysiological traits and respond appropriately to afferent inputs. Despite the ability to regenerate specific, molecularly-defined neuronal subtypes, we also uncovered previously unappreciated limitations by showing that newborn neurons organize within altered tissue architecture and fail to re-establish the long-distance axonal tracts and circuit physiology present before injury. The data provide a direct demonstration that diverse, electrophysiologically functional neurons can be regenerated in axolotls, but challenge prior assumptions of functional brain repair in regenerative species. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13998.001

Contrast agents that can diffuse freely into or within tissue have numerous attractive features for perfusion imaging. Here we present preliminary data illustrating the suitability of hyperpolarized 13C labeled 2-methylpropan-2-ol (also known as dimethylethanol, tertiary butyl alcohol and tert-butanol) as a freely diffusible contrast agent for magnetic resonance perfusion imaging. Dynamic 13C images acquired in rat brain with a balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) sequence following administration of hyperpolarized 2-methylpropan-2-ol show that this agent can be imaged with 2–4s temporal resolution, 2mm slice thickness, and 700 micron in-plane resolution while retaining adequate signal-to-noise ratio. 13C relaxation measurements on 2-methylpropan-2-ol in blood at 9.4T yield T1=46±4s and T2=0.55±0.03s. In the rat brain at 4.7T, analysis of the temporal dynamics of the bSSFP image intensity in tissue and venous blood indicate that 2-methylpropan-2-ol has a T2 of roughly 2–4s and a T1 of 43±24s. In addition, the images indicate that 2-methylpropan-2-ol is freely diffusible in brain and hence has a long residence time in tissue; this in turn makes it possible to image the agent continuously for tens of seconds. These characteristics show that 2-methylpropan-2-ol is a promising agent for robust and quantitative perfusion imaging in the brain and body.