MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alain Chedotal, PhD Group Leader, Institut de la Vision (Inserm/UPMC/CNRS), Paris and Sylvain Berlemont, PhD CEO & Founder of Keen Eye Technologies, Incubateur Institut de la Vision, Paris MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: What was known about human embryo development was based on histological techniques developed at the beginning of the twentieth century and no significant progress had been made for about fifty years. A few years ago our team found a method allowing to perform immunostaining on whole-mouse embryos and adult mouse brains. Complete 3D images of the intact samples could be obtained after they were cleared with solvents and imaged with a light sheet microscope. In this new study we have adapted this method to human embryos during the first trimester of gestation. We provide for the first time high-resolution 3D images of the developing peripheral nervous, muscular, vascular, cardiopulmonary, and urogenital systems. We found evidence for important in differences in the embryonic pattern of nerve branches between the right and left hands. We also present evidence for a differential vascularization of the male and female genital tracts concomitant with sex determination. (more…)