Three-Dimensional Analysis of Light Microscope Images: A Method for Studying CellFate in the Mouse Embryo

摘要

The thesis presents the steps necessary to achieve quantitative data about theposition of labelled cells in the embryo. Starting with the sections of the mouse embryo, these sections have first to be aligned in an objective way. In Chapter 2, the alignment method for histological sections is discussed. The types of normalization applicable to a stack of aligned images are described in Chapter 3, and it is investigated whether normalizing could exploit the spatial correlation between successive sections. The orientation of the embryo within the three-dimensional image must be known for the analysis. This fitting procedure is described in Chapter 4. The cell detection and assignment of coordinates is described in Chapter 5. Finally the analysis of cell patterns is described in Chapter 6.