Umeå Centre for Molecular Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2021 Mar 4;12:633063. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.633063. eCollection 2021.
The exocrine-endocrine multipart organization of the pancreas makes it an exceedingly challenging organ to analyze, quantitatively and spatially. Both in rodents and humans, estimates of the pancreatic cellular composition, including beta-cell mass, has been largely relying on the extrapolation of 2D stereological data originating from limited sample volumes. Alternatively, they have been obtained by low resolution non-invasive imaging techniques providing little detail regarding the anatomical organization of the pancreas and its cellular and/or molecular make up. In this mini-review, the state of the art and the future potential of currently existing and emerging high-resolution optical imaging techniques working in the mm-cm range with μm resolution, here referred to as mesoscopic imaging approaches, will be discussed regarding their contribution toward a better understanding of pancreatic anatomy both in normal conditions and in the diabetic setting. In particular, optical projection tomography (OPT) and light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) imaging of the pancreas and their associated tissue processing and computational analysis protocols will be discussed in the light of their current capabilities and future potential to obtain more detailed 3D-spatial, quantitative, and molecular information of the pancreas.
胰腺的外分泌-内分泌多部分组织使其成为一个极具挑战性的器官，无论是在定量还是在空间上进行分析。在啮齿动物和人类中，对胰腺细胞组成的估计，包括β细胞质量，在很大程度上依赖于从有限样本量中得出的二维体视学数据的推断。或者，它们是通过低分辨率的非侵入性成像技术获得的，这些技术几乎没有提供有关胰腺的解剖结构及其细胞和/或分子组成的详细信息。在这篇迷你综述中，将讨论当前存在和新兴的高分辨率光学成像技术在 mm-cm 范围内工作的最新进展，其分辨率达到 μm，这里称为介观成像方法，它们在正常和糖尿病情况下对胰腺解剖结构的更好理解方面的贡献。特别地，将讨论胰腺的光学投影断层扫描 (OPT) 和光片荧光显微镜 (LSFM) 成像及其相关的组织处理和计算分析方案，考虑到它们目前的能力和未来获得更详细的 3D 空间、定量和分子胰腺信息的潜力。
