Prothero J S, Prothero J W
Comput Biomed Res. 1986 Aug;19(4):361-73. doi: 10.1016/0010-4809(86)90048-0.
In many fields of biology and medicine there is a pressing need for quantitative descriptions of biological structures at a resolution of micrometers. This need is currently met best by three-dimensional reconstruction from serial sections. The preliminary steps in three-dimensional reconstruction include fixation, embedding in plastic, introduction of fiducials, serial sectioning, and staining. At the light microscope level, with which we are chiefly concerned, one will usually want to do photomicrography (or videomicrography) of adjacent fields within individual tissue sections. The resultant images are projected onto a digitizer pad and the contours of interest manually digitized. From the digitized coordinates generated thereby, one wishes to generate a likeness of the original object, using computer graphic displays, and to then do interactive morphometrics. The problem of combining the digitized coordinates so as to produce a numerically faithful representation of the original object (i.e., the reassembly problem) is, as a practical matter, nontrivial. A technical description of the reassembly problem is presented. The main factors entering into a solution of the problem are discussed and a mathematical statement of the solution is given.
在生物学和医学的许多领域，迫切需要以微米级分辨率对生物结构进行定量描述。目前，通过连续切片进行三维重建能最好地满足这一需求。三维重建的初步步骤包括固定、包埋于塑料中、引入基准点、连续切片和染色。在我们主要关注的光学显微镜层面，通常需要对单个组织切片内的相邻视野进行显微摄影（或视频显微摄影）。所得图像被投影到数字化仪平板上，感兴趣的轮廓被手动数字化。基于由此生成的数字化坐标，人们希望利用计算机图形显示生成原始物体的相似物，然后进行交互式形态计量学分析。实际上，将数字化坐标组合起来以产生原始物体的数值忠实表示（即重新组装问题）并非易事。本文给出了对重新组装问题的技术描述。讨论了该问题解决方案中的主要因素，并给出了解决方案的数学表述。
