The ATUMtome for automated serial sectioning and 3-D imaging

摘要

The progress in correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) has recently take a great step forward with the introduction of a device that attaches to an ultramicrotome and collects thin sections of resin-embedded material in sequential order. The ATUMtome is a logical extension of the array tomography serial sectioning approach to imaging biological material that was recently introduced. Whereas array tomography manually collected limited numbers of serial sections onto glass slides or silicon strips, the ATUMtome is able to automatically collect thousands of sections onto a tape for imaging by light of electron microscopy. Originally designed for studying neuronal connections in the brain, the ATUMtome can be used to image large volumes of any organ or tissue where 3-dimensional relationships between structures are important.