Jing Yang's group published a research article on Cell Reports. They developed the new technique, termed ImmuView, for whole-tissue immunolabeling and 3D fluorescence imaging of intact, unsectioned immune organs of the mouse.

In the canonical view, the nervous system and the immune system in the body are separated for distinct physiological functions. However, accumulating evidence has increasingly suggested the close interactions between the nervous and immune systems. In particular, the nervous system can directly modulate the local immunity in different organs or tissues. Such neuro-immune regulation has become a new emerging theme in biomedical research, which would promote our in-depth knowledge of the immune response under physiological or disease conditions.

Neural innervations in the classic immune organs such as spleen, thymus, and lymph nodes have been observed for decades. However, conventional immunohistochemistry methods have their intrinsic limitations in assessing the 3D distribution of neural innervations on the whole-tissue level. In fact, such technical shortcoming in the field has led to incomplete or even controversial documentation on neural innervations in the immune organs.

Dr. Jing Yang's research group at IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Peking University developed the new technique, termed ImmuView, for whole-tissue immunolabeling and 3D fluorescence imaging of intact, unsectioned immune organs of the mouse. This advanced imaging technique enabled, for the first time in the field, the comprehensive assessment of neural innervations in the classic immune organs. A previously unknown, panicle-shaped sympathetic architecture was discovered in the spleen. Moreover, it was shown that such intricate sympathetic architecture exerts the key role in negatively modulating the spleen antibacterial innate immunity. In addition, the sympathetic neurotransmitter norepinephrine could cell-intrinsically inhibit the antibacterial innate immune response of macrophages via beta-2 adrenergic receptor signaling. These findings have together elucidated the specific functional connection between the nervous system and the spleen, which would have broad implications in our better understanding of the regulatory mechanism in the spleen immunity. This work has been published in Cell Reports (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.082).