Aufsatz
X-ray imaging of a water bear offers a new look at tardigrade internal anatomy
Abstract
Background:
Tardigrades (water bears) are microscopic invertebrates of which the anatomy has been well studied using traditional techniques, but a comprehensive three-dimensional reconstruction has never been performed. In order to close this gap, we employed X-ray computed tomography (CT), a technique that is becoming increasingly popular in zoology for producing high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) scans of whole specimens. While CT has long been used to scan larger samples, its use in some microscopic animals can be problematic, as they are often too small for conventional CT yet too large for high-resolution, optics-based soft X-ray microscopy. This size gap continues to be narrowed with advancements in technology, with high-resolution imaging now being possible using both large synchrotron devices and, more recently, laboratory-based instruments.
Results:
Here we use a recently developed prototype lab-based nano-computed tomography device to image a 152 μm-long tardigrade at high resolution (200–270 nm pixel size). The resulting dataset allowed us to visualize the anatomy of the tardigrade in 3D and analyze the spatial relationships of the internal structures. Segmentation of the major structures of the body enabled the direct measurement of their respective volumes. Furthermore, we segmented every storage cell individually and quantified their volume distribution. We compare our measurements to those from published studies in which other techniques were used.
Conclusions:
The data presented herein demonstrate the utility of CT imaging as a powerful supplementary tool for studies of tardigrade anatomy, especially for quantitative volume measurements. This nanoCT study represents the smallest complete animal ever imaged using CT, and offers new 3D insights into the spatial relationships of the internal organs of water bears.
Tardigrades (water bears) are microscopic invertebrates of which the anatomy has been well studied using traditional techniques, but a comprehensive three-dimensional reconstruction has never been performed. In order to close this gap, we employed X-ray computed tomography (CT), a technique that is becoming increasingly popular in zoology for producing high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) scans of whole specimens. While CT has long been used to scan larger samples, its use in some microscopic animals can be problematic, as they are often too small for conventional CT yet too large for high-resolution, optics-based soft X-ray microscopy. This size gap continues to be narrowed with advancements in technology, with high-resolution imaging now being possible using both large synchrotron devices and, more recently, laboratory-based instruments.
Results:
Here we use a recently developed prototype lab-based nano-computed tomography device to image a 152 μm-long tardigrade at high resolution (200–270 nm pixel size). The resulting dataset allowed us to visualize the anatomy of the tardigrade in 3D and analyze the spatial relationships of the internal structures. Segmentation of the major structures of the body enabled the direct measurement of their respective volumes. Furthermore, we segmented every storage cell individually and quantified their volume distribution. We compare our measurements to those from published studies in which other techniques were used.
Conclusions:
The data presented herein demonstrate the utility of CT imaging as a powerful supplementary tool for studies of tardigrade anatomy, especially for quantitative volume measurements. This nanoCT study represents the smallest complete animal ever imaged using CT, and offers new 3D insights into the spatial relationships of the internal organs of water bears.
Sponsorship
Gefördert durch den Publikationsfonds der Universität KasselCitation
@article{doi:10.17170/kobra-20190521508,
author={Gross, Vladimir and Müller, Mark and Hehn, Lorenz and Ferstl, Simone and Allner, Sebastian and Dierolf, Martin and Achterhold, Klaus and Mayer, Georg and Pfeiffer, Franz},
title={X-ray imaging of a water bear offers a new look at tardigrade internal anatomy},
journal={Zoological Letters},
year={2019}
}
0500 Oax 0501 Text $btxt$2rdacontent 0502 Computermedien $bc$2rdacarrier 1100 2019$n2019 1500 1/eng 2050 ##0##http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11246 3000 Gross, Vladimir 3010 Müller, Mark 3010 Hehn, Lorenz 3010 Ferstl, Simone 3010 Allner, Sebastian 3010 Dierolf, Martin 3010 Achterhold, Klaus 3010 Mayer, Georg 3010 Pfeiffer, Franz 4000 X-ray imaging of a water bear offers a new look at tardigrade internal anatomy / Gross, Vladimir 4030 4060 Online-Ressource 4085 ##0##=u http://nbn-resolving.de/http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11246=x R 4204 \$dAufsatz 4170 7136 ##0##http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11246
<resource xsi:schemaLocation="http://datacite.org/schema/kernel-2.2 http://schema.datacite.org/meta/kernel-2.2/metadata.xsd"> 2019-05-22T05:57:22Z 2019-05-22T05:57:22Z 2019-05-11 doi:10.17170/kobra-20190521508 http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/11246 Gefördert durch den Publikationsfonds der Universität Kassel eng Urheberrechtlich geschützt https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/ X-ray nanoCT imaging Biological imaging 3D reconstruction Tardigrada 570 X-ray imaging of a water bear offers a new look at tardigrade internal anatomy Aufsatz Background: Tardigrades (water bears) are microscopic invertebrates of which the anatomy has been well studied using traditional techniques, but a comprehensive three-dimensional reconstruction has never been performed. In order to close this gap, we employed X-ray computed tomography (CT), a technique that is becoming increasingly popular in zoology for producing high-resolution, three-dimensional (3D) scans of whole specimens. While CT has long been used to scan larger samples, its use in some microscopic animals can be problematic, as they are often too small for conventional CT yet too large for high-resolution, optics-based soft X-ray microscopy. This size gap continues to be narrowed with advancements in technology, with high-resolution imaging now being possible using both large synchrotron devices and, more recently, laboratory-based instruments. Results: Here we use a recently developed prototype lab-based nano-computed tomography device to image a 152 μm-long tardigrade at high resolution (200–270 nm pixel size). The resulting dataset allowed us to visualize the anatomy of the tardigrade in 3D and analyze the spatial relationships of the internal structures. Segmentation of the major structures of the body enabled the direct measurement of their respective volumes. Furthermore, we segmented every storage cell individually and quantified their volume distribution. We compare our measurements to those from published studies in which other techniques were used. Conclusions: The data presented herein demonstrate the utility of CT imaging as a powerful supplementary tool for studies of tardigrade anatomy, especially for quantitative volume measurements. This nanoCT study represents the smallest complete animal ever imaged using CT, and offers new 3D insights into the spatial relationships of the internal organs of water bears. open access Gross, Vladimir Müller, Mark Hehn, Lorenz Ferstl, Simone Allner, Sebastian Dierolf, Martin Achterhold, Klaus Mayer, Georg Pfeiffer, Franz doi:10.1186/s40851-019-0130-6 publishedVersion ISSN: 2056-306X Zoological Letters 14 5 </resource>
The following license files are associated with this item:
:Urheberrechtlich geschützt