Απεικόνιση του νηματώδους C. elegans με χρήση οπτικής προβολικής τομογραφίας.

Small sample spatial in vivo imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy, micro MRT (µMRT), Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (SPIM) or contrast enhanced techniques such as DICM (Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy) are common tools for imaging fluorescent expression in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. However, these methods have limited capacity for high resolution, rapid, whole body 3D microscopic imaging and/or imaging of multiple contrast agents. The recently developed approach of Optical Projection Tomography (OPT) enables 3D visualization of whole specimens up to several millimetres in size as has already been shown in zebra fish, chick and mouse embryos. This is achieved by applying a filtered back projection algorithm on images taken from equidistant angles of a rotating specimen with magnification dependent resolution, down to 1-5 µm. Here I present a modified OPT setup for 3D imaging of GFP expressing neuronal cells in C. elegans. This study demonstrates that this novel technique allows rapid acquisition of whole-animal fluorescent expression patterns in the nematode with high accuracy. OPT visualization can easily be adapted to image multiple tissues and cell types, with a variety of chromophores, that allow multi-colour projections, in the nematod