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Significance: Myelin breakdown is likely a key factor in the loss of cognitive and motor function associated with many neurodegenerative diseases. Aim: New methods for imaging myelin structure are needed to characterize and quantify the degradation of myelin in standard whole-brain sections of nonhuman primates and in human brain. Approach: Quantitative birefringence microscopy (qBRM) is a label-free technique for rapid histopathological assessment of myelin structural breakdown following cortical injury in rhesus monkeys. Results: We validate birefringence microscopy for structural imaging of myelin in rhesus monkey brain sections, and we demonstrate the power of qBRM by characterizing the breakdown of myelin following cortical injury, as a model of stroke, in the motor cortex. Conclusions: Birefringence microscopy is a valuable tool for histopathology of myelin and for quantitative assessment of myelin structure. Compared to conventional methods, this label-free technique is sensitive to subtle changes in myelin structure, is fast, and enables more quantitative assessment, without the variability inherent in labeling procedures such as immunohistochemistry.

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Structural imaging of myelin is of utmost importance for characterization of pathological changes to the brain in neurological disorders. Birefringence microscopy is used for rapid visualization of structural changes to myelin at sub-micron (<300nm) resolution.

Birefringence microscopy is a valuable technique for label-free imaging of myelin structure in fixed brain sections. We demonstrate the ability to use high-resolution birefringence microscopy to study the grid-like structure of the human brain.

We report on birefringence microscopy for high-resolution imaging of myelin in unlabeled histological brain sections. We demonstrate our system for imaging structural breakdown of myelin resulting from ischemic brain injury in the rhesus monkey.