Macroscopic cryosectioning: a simple new method for producing digital, three-dimensional databases in veterinary anatomy.

Abstract

Using a new method derived from the 'visible human project' (Spitzer et al., 1996, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 3, 118-130), we were able to establish a simple and low-cost tool which produces high-quality cryosections of macroscopic specimens down to 1-mm slice thickness, based on a milling process. For the first time, a macroscopic cryotome is available to veterinary anatomists, which can be used on cutting faces up to 25 cm high and 50 cm wide and with a minimal slice thickness of 1 mm without any gap. The method employs a modified wood circular saw. Recording of the cutting faces is carried out 'online' by a high-resolution digital camera. The process has been tested extensively and produces high-quality sections of very hard material (teeth) as well as of very soft tissues (brain). It is now possible in veterinary medicine to provide three-dimensional anatomical databases of high resolution and of tissue-specific colour as an additional tool for high-quality two- and three-dimensional anatomical reconstructions for use in science and education.