A Semi-automatically Computerized Method in Human Spinal Cord Three Dimensional Reconstruction Based on Histological Serial Sections
Purpose: To explore a semiautomatically computerized method for human spinal cord three dimensional (3D) reconstruction based on histological serial sections which can solve the issues like low contrast section image from visual human project (VHP) database and fasten the 3D reconstruction speed. Materials and Methods: A human lumbal cord segment was obtained from a fresh adult male corpse. After 4％ paraformaldehyde fixation for three days, serial sections of the lumbal cord were obtained by Lecia freezing microtome and were directly mounted on slides by sequence, with eight sections aligned in turn separately in each slide. After drying in shade, all sections were stained with Luxol Fast Blue (LFB), a dye used to show medullary sheath. After gradient dehydration and clearing as routine, the stained slides were mounted with coverslips and then observed under light microscope. The images of the sections were obtained by turn with digital camera following with their orders. Six part of each section image were acquired under microscope by the 25× magnification at a time, then were automatically stitched into a complete section image. After all serial images were obtained, 96 serial complete images of human lumbal cord segment in total were processed with Curves, Autocontrast, Grey scale 8 bit, Invert, Image resize to 50％ step by step automatically with Photoshop 7.0 software. Then all images were renamed according to their numbers and were added into 3D-DOCTOR 4.0 software as a stack by order. In 3D- DOCTOR, the serial images were automatically realigned with the neighboring images and semiautomatically segmented for white matter and grey matter conveniently. After then, simple surface and volume reconstruction was achieved in Personal Computer (PC) and the reconstructed human lumbal cord segment was observed, cut and measured interactively. Results: Compared with the serial images obtained from other image modalities, such as CT, MRI and macrosections from VHP database, the LFB stained histological serial section images had higher resolution and contrast between grey matter and white matter. The image process and 3D reconstruction steps could be semiautomatically completed with related softwares. The 3D reconstructed human lumbal cord segment could be observed, cut and measured freedomly in PC. Conclusion: A semi-automatically computerized method based on histological serial sections is an effective way to reconstruct 3D human spinal cord.
Visible human project Serial sections Three dimensional reconstruction Surface reconstruction Volume reconstruction Luxol Fast Blue
Guangming Lu Huiqun Wu Lemin Tang Xiao Han Dafeng Ji Xiaosong Gu
Department of Anatomy, Institute of Neurobiology, Key Laboratory of Neural Regeneration of Jiangsu Province
国际会议
首届国际断层影像解剖学研讨会(The 1st International Symposium on Sectional and Inaging Anatomy)
青岛
英文
160-164
2007-12-15（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）