Biophysics researchers at Cornell and Harvard researchers have proposed a new method of imaging the cytoskeletal infrastructure of nerve cells to map the nervous system as it develops and struggles to repair itself.

The technique allows for in vivo images of the growth of microtubules by detecting the second harmonic generated from microtubules when hit by laser light.

The technique could answer the puzzle about which errant pathways initiate damage to brain cells, said Watt W. Webb, professor of applied physics at Cornell and leader of the research program.

The imaging studies might also explain the role of microtubule-polarity in developing brain tissue, helping to decipher how the brain becomes “wired.”

Press release

Uniform polarity microtubule assemblies imaged in native brain tissue by second-harmonic generation microscopy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS, June 10, 2003)