3-DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTIONS OF THE PRIMARY PALATE REGION IN NORMAL HUMAN EMBRYOS

Our knowledge of the precise spatial relationships of human primary pa late morphogenesis remains poorly defined. This is due to intrinsic di fficulties that exist in the study of the subject matter and a lack of adequate methodologies. We present a novel new method to allow precis e three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of developing embryonic struct ures in previously sectioned embryos. In our study we focus on human p rimary palate development. Five normal human embryos from the Car negi e collection were used. 3-D reconstructions appear similar to scanning electron micrographs (SEM); however, unlike in SEM studies, the origi nal specimen has been previously sectioned histologically. 3-D reconst ruction from serial sections involved 1) histological preparation of s pecimen, 2) projection onto digitizing board, 3) digitization, 4) auto mated reassembly, and 5) relay to interactive optical disc recorder. D etailed observations of each reconstruction were then made. Data gener ated in this manner may also be used in the near future for quantitati ve morphometrics. Thus, 3-D reconstruction techniques presented in thi s paper generated precise spatial information on the development of th e human primary palate. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.