Seamless reconstruction of intact adult-born neurons by serial end-block imaging reveals complex axonal guidance and development in the adult hippocampus.

In the adult mammalian hippocampus, newborn dentate granule cells are continuously integrated into the existing circuitry and contribute to specific brain functions. Little is known about the axonal development of these newborn neurons in the adult brain due to technological challenges that have prohibited large-scale reconstruction of long, thin, and complex axonal processes within the mature nervous system. Here, using a new serial end-block imaging (SEBI) technique, we seamlessly reconstructed axonal and dendritic processes of intact individual retrovirus-labeled newborn granule cells at different developmental stages in the young adult mouse hippocampus.