Pneumologie 2014; 68 - A62
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1376831

Correlative three-dimensional observation of lung tissue by different tomographic methods

J Hegermann 1, M Kühnel 1, M Kellner 1, C Wrede 1, M Ochs 1
  • 1Institute of Functional and Applied Anatomy, Hannover Medical School, Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL)

Combining light- and electron optical methods on the same sample facilitates the understanding of organ structure by providing both overviews of large samples as well as high resolution insights into very small structural features. We present here the combination of Scanning Laser Optical Tomography (SLOT) with Electron Tomography (ET) to examine mouse lung tissue at low and high magnifications. SLOT allows to analyze, reconstruct and segment a whole mouse lung with a resolution allowing the recognition of structures in size down to single alveoli. The resulting three-dimensional models allow for example the detailed analysis of the conductive blood and airway system architecture.

Insights into subcellular regions are achieved with a resolution in the nanometre scale using ET. In lamellar bodies (the “surfactant” containing organelles in type II alveolar epithelial cells), single lipid lamellae can be observed.