Porro Laura B, Richards Christopher T
Structure and Motion Laboratory, Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK.
J Anat. 2017 Aug;231(2):169-191. doi: 10.1111/joa.12625. Epub 2017 May 26.
The African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis, is one of the most widely used model organisms in biological research. However, the most recent anatomical description of X. laevis was produced nearly a century ago. Compared with other anurans, pipid frogs - including X. laevis - exhibit numerous unusual morphological features; thus, anatomical descriptions of more 'typical' frogs do not detail many aspects of X. laevis skeletal and soft-tissue morphology. The relatively new method of using iodine-based agents to stain soft tissues prior to high-resolution X-ray imaging has several advantages over gross dissection, such as enabling dissection of very small and fragile specimens, and preserving the three-dimensional topology of anatomical structures. Here, we use contrast-enhanced computed tomography to produce a high-resolution three-dimensional digital dissection of a post-metamorphic X. laevis to successfully visualize: skeletal and muscular anatomy; the nervous, respiratory, digestive, excretory and reproductive systems; and the major sense organs. Our digital dissection updates and supplements previous anatomical descriptions of this key model organism, and we present the three-dimensional data as interactive portable document format (PDF) files that are easily accessible and freely available for research and educational purposes. The data presented here hold enormous potential for applications beyond descriptive purposes, particularly for biological researchers using this taxon as a model organism, comparative anatomy and biomechanical modelling.
非洲爪蟾（非洲爪蟾，学名：Xenopus laevis）是生物学研究中使用最广泛的模式生物之一。然而，非洲爪蟾最近的解剖学描述是在近一个世纪前完成的。与其他无尾目动物相比，包括非洲爪蟾在内的负子蟾科蛙类表现出许多不寻常的形态特征；因此，对更“典型”蛙类的解剖学描述并未详细说明非洲爪蟾骨骼和软组织形态的许多方面。在高分辨率X射线成像之前使用碘基试剂对软组织进行染色的相对较新的方法，与大体解剖相比有几个优点，例如能够解剖非常小且脆弱的标本，并保留解剖结构的三维拓扑结构。在这里，我们使用对比增强计算机断层扫描对一只变态后的非洲爪蟾进行高分辨率三维数字解剖，以成功可视化：骨骼和肌肉解剖结构；神经、呼吸、消化、排泄和生殖系统；以及主要感觉器官。我们的数字解剖更新并补充了此前对这种关键模式生物的解剖学描述，并且我们将三维数据呈现为交互式便携文档格式（PDF）文件，这些文件易于获取且可免费用于研究和教育目的。这里展示的数据在描述性目的之外具有巨大的应用潜力，特别是对于将这个分类群用作模式生物的生物学研究人员、比较解剖学和生物力学建模而言。
