Imaging cellular activity across all organs reveals body-wide circuits.

WHOLISTIC imaging reveals body-wide cellular activity and novel physiological responses across all organs in vertebrates.

• Why it matters: Understanding how diverse cell types coordinate across organs is crucial for deciphering complex physiological processes and disease mechanisms, but has been limited by current imaging techniques.
• What they did: The team developed WHOLISTIC, a second-timescale, cellular-resolution imaging system combining advanced microscopy, machine learning, and transgenic calcium sensors, demonstrated in larval zebrafish and adult Danionella cerebrum, along with whole-body expansion microscopy.
• The result: This approach uncovered unexpected responses such as chondrocyte cold reactions, renal rhythmic waves, and muscle-organ interactions, enabling comprehensive insights into systemic physiology and potential therapeutic targets.