Three-dimensional virtual histology of human cerebellum by X-ray phase-contrast tomography
2018-06-18 | journal article; research paper. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
Jump to: Cite & Linked | Documents & Media | Details | Version history
Cite this publication
Three-dimensional virtual histology of human cerebellum by X-ray phase-contrast tomography
Töpperwien, M. ; Meer, F. van der ; Stadelmann-Nessler, C. & Salditt, T. (2018)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(27) pp. 6940-6945. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1801678115
Documents & Media
Details
- Authors
- Töpperwien, Mareike ; Meer, Franziska van der ; Stadelmann-Nessler, Christine ; Salditt, Tim
- Abstract
- To quantitatively evaluate brain tissue and its corresponding function, knowledge of the 3D cellular distribution is essential. The gold standard to obtain this information is histology, a destructive and labor-intensive technique where the specimen is sliced and examined under a light microscope, providing 3D information at nonisotropic resolution. To overcome the limitations of conventional histology, we use phase-contrast X-ray tomography with optimized optics, reconstruction, and image analysis, both at a dedicated synchrotron radiation endstation, which we have equipped with X-ray waveguide optics for coherence and wavefront filtering, and at a compact laboratory source. As a proof-of-concept demonstration we probe the 3D cytoarchitecture in millimeter-sized punches of unstained human cerebellum embedded in paraffin and show that isotropic subcellular resolution can be reached at both setups throughout the specimen. To enable a quantitative analysis of the reconstructed data, we demonstrate automatic cell segmentation and localization of over 1 million neurons within the cerebellar cortex. This allows for the analysis of the spatial organization and correlation of cells in all dimensions by borrowing concepts from condensed-matter physics, indicating a strong short-range order and local clustering of the cells in the granular layer. By quantification of 3D neuronal "packing," we can hence shed light on how the human cerebellum accommodates 80% of the total neurons in the brain in only 10% of its volume. In addition, we show that the distribution of neighboring neurons in the granular layer is anisotropic with respect to the Purkinje cell dendrites.
- Issue Date
- 18-June-2018
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Organization
- Institut für Röntgenphysik
- Working Group
- RG Salditt (Structure of Biomolecular Assemblies and X-Ray Physics)
- ISSN
- 0027-8424
- eISSN
- 1091-6490
- Language
- English
- Subject(s)
- x-ray imaging; biomedical tomography