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New technique allows 3D imaging in unprecedented detail

06 December 2022

Frozen Heart

Shape and structure are often essential to life’s tasks – enzymes with specific shapes fit particular molecules like a lock and key, and zooming out, the patterns of cells in tissues and organs offer clues to health, damage and disease. In this detailed 3D scan of a mouse’s heart, each cardiac muscle fibre is coloured based on its orientation within the organ’s microstructure. Normally, taking such a detailed view inside living tissue requires damaging it in some way. But this heart is stained and quickly frozen preserving its details and allowing a version of micro-computed tomography to build an intact 3D picture. The movie’s virtual slices reveal the location of fibrotic regions (blue) – hardened tissue formed after surgery. In humans, cardiac fibrosis can lead to heart failure so studying similar detailed models may allow researchers to test new approaches and drugs to healing hearts.

Written by John Ankers

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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