After whole-mount nuclear (all cells) and fast-green (FG) staining, a day-24 embryo (Acomys dimidiatus) was cleared & imaged with light-sheet microscopy by C. Langrez. Only nuclear staining is shown here and the final 3D image was optimised for surface visualisation. The strikingly regular hair placode pattern with long-range order is visible on the lower back of the embryo.
The final 3D image was obtained with an in-house signal processing method —developed by S. Zakany and similar to ‘High Dynamic Range’— that leverages the 12-bit data produced with light-sheet microscopy.
Through computational simulations and experimental developmental data from laboratory mouse and spiny mouse, we show that chemotactic self-organisation —due to the directed movement of cells toward chemical cues—can generate, in isolation, a wide range of skin hair precursor arrangements, from the somewhat disordered pattern of the laboratory mouse to the long-range order of the spiny mouse pattern.
Check the scientific publication (PNAS 2026) and the supplemental movie.