Assessing Individual Neuronal Activity Across the Intact Brain: Using Hybridization Chain Reaction (HCR) to Detect Arc mRNA Localized to the Nucleus in Volumes of Cleared Brain Tissue

Arc (activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein) is an immediate early gene that may be used to label recently active neurons. Arc is transcribed following neuronal activity, and its mRNA is then rapidly transported to dendrites. This feature allows nuclear-localized Arc mRNA to define ensembles of recently active neurons in systems or circuit neuroscience. However, typical in situ hybridization techniques severely constrain the thickness of the tissue specimen (typically 20-µm brain slices). Here, we describe a protocol for visualizing intranuclear Arc mRNA in large (4 × 4 × 3 mm) volumes of intact mouse brain tissue. We combined a tissue clearing protocol (iDISCO+) with an advanced in situ hybridization technique (hybridization chain reaction [HCR]) to detect nuclear-localized Arc mRNA in whole, intact brain regions without the need for brain sectioning or reconstruction. We successfully applied this protocol to image ensembles of neurons of the basolateral amygdala in mice that are active following the recall of a conditioned fear memory. © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.