Figure 1.
Overall setup of the AERO system hardware.
(A) HiRox microscopy and (B) schematic representation of the rotary head. A specimen is placed on an agarose layer prepared in a cylindrical container or petri-dish. The key feature of this component is the two mirrors installed in the rotary head, which allows the camera to capture an image that is tilted 45 degrees to the microscopic stage. The rotary head is rotated by 360 degrees while capturing images at 2-degree intervals. Therefore the 180 serial images are captured in one simple operation. After image acquisition, these serial images are automatically arranged so as to produce a movie.
Table 1.
Genes analyzed in this study.
Table 2.
The number of genes expressed in respective regions.
Figure 2.
Expression of Pax1 (paired box gene 1) and Aes (amino-terminal enhancer of split) in the E11.5 mouse embryo was visualized by in situ hybridization. (A) Left- and Right-side AERO images of Pax1. The expression in the somite and maxillary process is observed. (B)Three AERO images of Aes. The Left-, Front- and Back-side AERO images cover almost all the body parts of the embryo. The expression in the brain, somite, forelimb and hindlimb is clearly observed from various angles.
Figure 3.
Comparison of conventional 2D images and AERO images.
The expression of Lmx1b, Isl1 and Cited1 at E11.5 is visualized by in situ hybridization. The conventional 2D images (A, C, E) from the EMBRYS database and the AERO images (B, D, F). (A, B) The AERO images reveal Lmx1b expression is restricted to the dorsal side and is absent on the ventral side of the forelimb-bud (arrow) and hindlimb bud (arrow head). D:dorsal side, V: ventral side. (C, D) Isl1 expression in the genitalia is clearly observed in the AERO images (red arrows). (E, F) Cited1 expression in the maxillofacial region is more clearly observed in the AERO images than 2D image (red arrows).