Weninger W J, Meng S, Streicher J, Müller G B
Department of Anatomy, University of Vienna, Wien, Austria.
Anat Embryol (Berl). 1998 May;197(5):341-8. doi: 10.1007/s004290050144.
The topographic relations of complex structures and the morphogenesis of organ systems can only be fully understood in their three-dimensional context. Three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of physically sectioned specimens has become an indispensable tool in modern anatomical and embryological research. Teaching also makes increasingly use of 3-D representations, in particular in the case of embryonic systems that undergo complicated transformations of form and shape. At present no cheap and simple technique is available that generates accurate 3-D models of sectioned objects. In this study we describe a novel technique that rapidly provides faithful 3-D models of sectioned specimens. The images are captured directly from the cutting surface of the embedding block after each sectioning and "on block" staining step. Automatic image processing generates a stack of binary images of the specimen contour. Binary images of internal structures are obtained both by automatic segmentation and manual tracing. Since these image series are inherently aligned, they can be reconstructed three-dimensionally without time-consuming alignment procedures. The quality and the flexibility of the method are demonstrated by reconstructing three kinds of specimens of different histological composition and staining contrast: a 4 mm mouse embryo together with several of its inner organs, a cavernous sinus region of a human infant, and a segment of a human carotid artery. Very short processing times and the faithful representation of complex structural arrangements recommend this technique for routine use in morphological research and for creating embryologic teaching models or 3-D embryonic staging series.
复杂结构的拓扑关系和器官系统的形态发生只有在三维背景下才能得到充分理解。对物理切片标本进行三维（3-D）重建已成为现代解剖学和胚胎学研究中不可或缺的工具。教学也越来越多地使用三维表示，特别是对于经历复杂形态和形状转变的胚胎系统。目前，还没有一种廉价且简单的技术能够生成准确的切片物体三维模型。在本研究中，我们描述了一种新技术，该技术能够快速提供切片标本的逼真三维模型。在每次切片和“在块上”染色步骤之后，直接从包埋块的切割表面捕获图像。自动图像处理生成标本轮廓的一系列二值图像。内部结构的二值图像通过自动分割和手动追踪获得。由于这些图像系列本质上是对齐的，因此无需耗时的对齐程序即可进行三维重建。通过重建三种具有不同组织学组成和染色对比度的标本，证明了该方法的质量和灵活性：一个4毫米的小鼠胚胎及其几个内部器官、一个人类婴儿的海绵窦区域以及一段人类颈动脉。非常短的处理时间和对复杂结构排列的逼真呈现，使得该技术推荐用于形态学研究的常规使用以及创建胚胎学教学模型或三维胚胎分期系列。
