AN INTERNET ATLAS OF MOUSE DEVELOPMENT

A prototype two- and three-dimensional color atlas of mouse developmen t is described, The prototype has been developed using two embryos, a 13.5 d normal mouse embryo and a PATCH mutant embryo of the same age. Serial sections of the embryos, with an external registration marker s ystem, introduced into the paraffin embedding process, were prepared b y standard histological methods, For the 2D atlas, color images were d igitized from 100 consecutive sections of the normal embryo, For the 3 D atlas, 300 gray scale images digitized from the mutant embryo were c onformally warped and reconstructed into a 3D volume dataset, The exte rnal fiducial system facilitated the three-dimensional reconstruction by providing accurate registration of consecutive images and also allo wed for precise spatial calibration and the correction for warping art ifacts, The atlases, with their associated anatomical knowledge base, will be integrated into a multimedia on-line information resource via the Internet's World Wide Web (WWW) using an enhanced (patent pending, Eolas Technologies) version of the Mosaic WWW browser program from th e National Center for Supercomputer Applications, These programs will provide research biologists with a set of advanced tools to analyze no rmal and abnormal development. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd .