Roesler Mathias W, Garrett Amy S, Trew Mark L, Gerneke Dane, Amirapu Satya, Cheng Leo K, Clark Alys R
Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
J Anat. 2025 Jan;246(1):134-147. doi: 10.1111/joa.14131. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
Contractions of the uterus play an important role in menstruation and fertility, and contractile dysfunction can lead to chronic diseases such as endometriosis. However, the structure and function of the uterus are difficult to interrogate in humans, and thus animal studies are often employed to understand its function. In rats, anatomical studies of the uterus have typically been based on histological assessment, have been limited to small segments of the uterine structure, and have been time-consuming to reconstruct at the organ scale. This study used micro-computed tomography imaging to visualise the muscle structures in the entire non-pregnant rat uterus and assess its use for 3D virtual histology. An assessment of the rodent uterus is presented to (i) quantify muscle thickness variations along the horns, (ii) identify predominant fibre orientations of the muscles and (iii) demonstrate how the anatomy of the uterus can be mapped to 3D volumetric meshes via virtual histology. Micro-computed tomography measurements were validated against measurements from histological sections. The average thickness of the myometrium was found to be 0.33 ± 0.11 mm and 0.31 ± 0.09 mm in the left and right horns, respectively. The micro-computed tomography and histology thickness calculations were found to correlate strongly at different locations in the uterus: at the cervix, r = 0.87, and along the horn from the cervical end to the ovarian end, respectively, r = 0.77, r = 0.89 and r = 0.54, with p < 0.001 in every location. This study shows that micro-computed tomography can be used to quantify the musculature in the whole non-pregnant uterus and can be used for 3D virtual histology.
子宫收缩在月经和生育中起着重要作用，而收缩功能障碍会导致诸如子宫内膜异位症等慢性疾病。然而，子宫的结构和功能在人体中难以探究，因此常采用动物研究来了解其功能。在大鼠中，子宫的解剖学研究通常基于组织学评估，仅限于子宫结构的小部分，且在器官尺度上重建耗时。本研究使用微型计算机断层扫描成像来可视化整个未孕大鼠子宫中的肌肉结构，并评估其在三维虚拟组织学中的应用。本文呈现了对啮齿动物子宫的评估，以（i）量化沿子宫角的肌肉厚度变化，（ii）确定肌肉的主要纤维方向，以及（iii）展示如何通过虚拟组织学将子宫解剖结构映射到三维体积网格。微型计算机断层扫描测量结果与组织学切片测量结果进行了验证。发现子宫肌层的平均厚度在左、右子宫角分别为0.33±0.11毫米和0.31±0.09毫米。微型计算机断层扫描和组织学厚度计算结果在子宫的不同位置均呈现出强相关性：在子宫颈处，r = 0.87，沿子宫角从子宫颈端到卵巢端，r分别为0.77、0.89和0.54，每个位置的p均<0.001。本研究表明，微型计算机断层扫描可用于量化整个未孕子宫的肌肉组织，并可用于三维虚拟组织学。
