Volumetric reconstruction of tissue structure from two-dimensional microscopy images

Abstract

Cell morphology of tissue is naturally three-dimensional. Most current methods for tissue analysis use two dimensional histological images of the tissue samples, restricting the analysis to 2D. Existing approaches do not provide essential three-dimensional information such as cell volume, shape and structural orientation of cells within the tissue. This thesis investigates a method to extract three dimensional data using two-dimensional microscopy. We demonstrate that three dimensional cell structure can be acquired using two dimensional fluorescence microscopy and two-photon microscopy and explore the application of the analysis to studies of cardiac tissue.