Three dimensional microscopic structures play an important role in the understanding of various biological and physiological phenomena. Structural details of neurons, such as the density, caliber and volumes of dendrites, are important in understanding physiological and pathological functioning of nervous systems. Even so, many of the widely used stains in biology and neurophysiology are absorbing stains, such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and yet most of the iterative, constrained 3D optical image reconstruction research has concentrated on fluorescence microscopy. It is clear that iterative, constrained 3D image reconstruction methodologies are needed for transmitted light brightfield (TLB) imaging as well. One of the difficulties in doing so, in the past, has been in determining the point spread function of the system.We have been developing several variations of iterative, constrained image reconstruction algorithms for TLB imaging. Some of our early testing with one of them was reported previously. These algorithms are based on a linearized model of TLB imaging.
