These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: A new method for three-dimensional reconstruction from serial sections by computer graphics using "meta-balls": reconstruction of "hepatoskeletal system" formed by Ito cells in the cod liver.
    Author: Tatsumi H, Takaoki E, Omura K, Fujita H.
    Journal: Comput Biomed Res; 1990 Feb; 23(1):37-45. PubMed ID: 2306933.
    Abstract:
    A new method is described for three-dimensional reconstruction from serial ultrathin sections, using "meta-balls" as a primitive of object modeling in computer graphics (CG). We take advantage of the meta-ball's blobbiness characteristic and its rendering system for reconstructing images. The two-dimensional outline data from serial sections are converted into three-dimensional meta-ball data with a graphic editor, "Metack," by which we can check the correctness of the data conversion. Then the converted data are visualized on a color display with a CG rendering software, "Tracy". This reconstruction method is applied in studying the spatial distribution of Ito cells (fat storing cells) in the cod liver in relation to the blood capillary. By observing the reconstructed images, we can easily understand the three-dimensional relationship between the Ito cells and the blood capillary. The Ito cells surround the blood capillary and extend their cytoplasmic processes into the inter-parenchymal space to make a well-developed network system. These findings would support a concept of "hepatoskeletal system" formed by Ito cells in the cod liver. Therefore, we think that the meta-ball reconstruction method is useful in morphological study.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]