Three-dimensional word of synapse: 3D-reconstructions of hippocampal synapses using serial ultrathin sections for demonstration of multiple-synapses in both dendritic spines and presynaptic boutons

Computer-generated three-dimensional reconstructions of higher plant dictyosomes from electron micrographs are presented from different viewing angles in the form of shaded perspective displays. The image processing has revealed complicated structures indicating a central cisternal stack surrounded by a cloud of vesicles and vesicular and tubular protrusions. The entire dictyosome is suggested as being an approximately spherical body that is marginally penetrated by plates and tubules of the endoplasmic reticulum.

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Structure and function of neural networks in the retina

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100102213 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 26-27

Author(s):

Peter Sterling

Keyword(s):

Ganglion Cells ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Structure And Function ◽

Synaptic Connections ◽

Visual Axis ◽

One Dimensional ◽

Cat Retina ◽

Ultrathin Sections ◽

And Function ◽

Insight Into

The synaptic connections in cat retina that link photoreceptors to ganglion cells have been analyzed quantitatively. Our approach has been to prepare serial, ultrathin sections and photograph en montage at low magnification (˜2000X) in the electron microscope. Six series, 100-300 sections long, have been prepared over the last decade. They derive from different cats but always from the same region of retina, about one degree from the center of the visual axis. The material has been analyzed by reconstructing adjacent neurons in each array and then identifying systematically the synaptic connections between arrays. Most reconstructions were done manually by tracing the outlines of processes in successive sections onto acetate sheets aligned on a cartoonist's jig. The tracings were then digitized, stacked by computer, and printed with the hidden lines removed. The results have provided rather than the usual one-dimensional account of pathways, a three-dimensional account of circuits. From this has emerged insight into the functional architecture.

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Improved 3-D reconstruction using stereo computer graphics and multiple tilt EM images

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100139524 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 630-631

Author(s):

Lee D. Peachey ◽

Lou Fodor ◽

John C. Haselgrove ◽

Stanley M. Dunn ◽

Junqing Huang

Keyword(s):

Computer Graphics ◽

High Performance ◽

Transverse Section ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Stereo Pair ◽

3D Reconstructions ◽

Video Cameras ◽

Biological Objects ◽

Microscope Images ◽

High Performance Computer

Stereo pairs of electron microscope images provide valuable visual impressions of the three-dimensional nature of specimens, including biological objects. Beyond this one seeks quantitatively accurate models and measurements of the three dimensional positions and sizes of structures in the specimen. In our laboratory, we have sought to combine high resolution video cameras with high performance computer graphics systems to improve both the ease of building 3D reconstructions and the accuracy of 3D measurements, by using multiple tilt images of the same specimen tilted over a wider range of angles than can be viewed stereoscopically. Ultimately we also wish to automate the reconstruction and measurement process, and have initiated work in that direction.Figure 1 is a stereo pair of 400 kV images from a 1 micrometer thick transverse section of frog skeletal muscle stained with the Golgi stain. This stain selectively increases the density of the transverse tubular network in these muscle cells, and it is this network that we reconstruct in this example.

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