Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Erythrocyte in the Capillary

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel method for three-dimensional reconstruction of erythrocytes in capillaries using tomographic imaging and image positioning, enabling detailed analysis of erythrocyte deformability relevant to blood disease diagnosis.

Contribution

The study introduces a new approach combining ultramicrotomy, electron microscopy, and image registration for 3D reconstruction of erythrocytes in capillaries, which was not previously available.

Findings

The method effectively reconstructs erythrocyte 3D shapes from serial sections.

Physical verification confirms the accuracy of the reconstruction.

Reconstructed erythrocyte deformation demonstrates potential for blood disease analysis.

Abstract

The dynamic analysis of erythrocyte deformability is used as an important means for early diagnosis of blood diseases and blood rheology. Yet no effective method is available in terms of three-dimensional reconstruction of erythrocytes in a capillary. In this study, ultrathin serial sections of skeletal muscle tissue are obtained from the ultramicrotome, the tomographic images of an erythrocyte in a capillary are captured by the transmission electron microscope, and then a method to position and restore is devised to demonstrate the physiological relationship between two adjacent tomographic images of an erythrocyte. Both the modeling and the physical verification reveal that this method is effective, which means that it can be used to make three-dimensional reconstruction of an erythrocyte in a capillary. An example of reconstructed deformation of erythrocyte based on the serial ultrathin sections is shown at the end of this paper.