Anatomy has advanced using 3-dimensional (3D) studies at macroscopic (e.g., dissection, injection moulding of vessels, radiology) and microscopic (e.g., serial section reconstruction with light and electron microscopy) levels. This paper presents the first results in human cells of a new method of subcellular 3D brightfield microscopy. Unlike traditional 3D deconvolution and confocal techniques, this method is suitable for general application to brightfield microscopy. Unlike brightfield serial sectioning it has subcellular resolution. Results are presented of the 3D structure of chromatin in the interphase nucleus of two human cell types, hepatocyte and plasma cell. I show how the freedom to examine these structures in 3D allows greater morphological discrimination between and within cell types and the 3D structural basis for the classical “clock-face” motif of the plasma cell nucleus is revealed. Potential for further applications discussed.
Anatomical research requires methods for seeing structure in 3D such as the traditional macroscopic methods of dissection or making vascular casts by injection moulding [
In order to overcome some of the limitations of traditional deconvolution and confocal microscopy (which are generally restricted to fluorescent preparations with a few special case exceptions, especially if subcellular detail is required), recently a new method of 3D deconvolution microscopy has been published [
In this paper I present, for the first time, results using this new method applied to human cells, specifically hepatocytes and plasma cells. I show how the method reveals the interphase nuclear chromatin meshwork in 3D. The results are analysed quantitatively with texture analysis and qualitatively to demonstrate the utility of this method in the study of cell and tissue structure.
The cells analysed in this study were imaged from a formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded 10-micron-thick section of human liver tissue which was stained with Williams progressive haematoxylin (only) according to standard diagnostic laboratory protocols. The tissue was acquired from a surgical hepatic segmental resection specimen as surplus to diagnostic requirements with the understanding and consent of the patient and in accordance with a protocol approved by the responsible ethics committee (Mid and South Buckinghamshire REC ref. 07/H0607/92).
The tissue section was imaged under oil immersion bright-field light microscopy using a ×100 objective lens and a standard diagnostic microscope coupled to a focus-control motor system that allowed images to be acquired at a series of focal planes to produce a 3D “
The deconvolved datasets represented 3D information of the whole tissue section thickness in the region of the selected cells (nucleus, cytoplasm, and extracellular matrix). They were then processed further to produce the 3D models of nuclear chromatin studied in this paper. The aims of this post-processing were to isolate the nucleus from extranuclear structures, uniformly enhance the contrast of the chromatin across the volume of the nucleus to facilitate qualitative and quantitative analysis and standardise the shapes of the nuclei (without affecting their overall volume) so that the comparative chromatin texture analyses will have fewer sources of potentially artefactual variation (i.e., to compensate for irregular nuclear shrinkage due to fixation and processing). In detail, these postprocesses are as follows. Nuclear isolation: the nuclear structure was isolated by manually tracing around the nuclear profiles in 3D and discarding all extranuclear structural detail. Shape standardisation: map the nuclear volume to a standard sphere of equal volume to the original nucleus. Contrast standardisation: contrast was made more uniform across the volume by standardising the mean and SD of the greyscale distributions across all 2D slices that make up the 3D volume of the nucleus. Contrast enhancement for visualisation: the contrast was then enhanced by 3D histogram equalisation followed by square root transformation of intensities.
Once postprocessed as above, the 3D nuclear chromatin datasets were subjected to quantitative chromatin texture analysis using the 3rd moment of Hu texture metric [
The postprocessed nuclear volumes were also converted into fully interactive 3D models for qualitative inspection in the virtual reality modelling language (VRML) using the freely available FATCAM software package [
Figure
Partial volume of tissue including a whole hepatocyte nucleus before (left) and after (right) deconvolution. The volume in both cases is shown from two different angles (top and bottom). In the predeconvolved volume the smearing of structural details in the
Figure
Chromatin texture measurement on all 12 cells used in this study by the third moment of Hu. The value of the third moment calculation is shown on the ordinate versus the cell measured on the abscissa (the 6 plasma cells followed by the 6 hepatocytes). The graph (a) shows the measurements as made on a 2D slice through the centre of each nucleus. The graph (b) shows the same calculation but performed on the whole 3D reconstructed nucleus. Clearly the measurement made on the 3D nucleus gives greater uniformity of the values between cells of similar type and greater distinction between different types of cell.
Figure
The freedom to view cells in 3D, as provided by the reconstruction methods in this paper, gives us greater morphological discriminatory abilities such that we can detect when cells that look different in 2D projections or slices (such as in cytology and histology preparations) are actually more similar than they first appear. This figure shows just one single plasma cell nucleus from different 3D angles. The angles are shown by the orientation of the boxes. In the top row, we see the box viewed from the different angles. In the bottom row we see the nucleus viewed from those same angles and in the middle row the two are superimposed. While the box viewed from different angles shows many different shapes we intuitively recognise this as being the same (or a very similar) object viewed from different angles. Because we have no such intuitive experience of complex nuclear chromatin, we cannot readily appreciate that the nuclei at the bottom are also identical and so they appear to us as different nuclei.
As described in many classical texts, a very typical morphological feature of a mature plasma cell nucleus is its “clock face” or “cart wheel” chromatin pattern. This refers to the appearance of peripheral separate clumps of chromatin against the nuclear membrane (the “numerals” of the clock face) which often have a tapering extension facing radially inwards (the “spokes” of the cart wheel) with a central clump (the hub of the cart wheel or the centre of the clock face where the hands attach). Whereas these descriptors refer to a typical 2D pattern, the fact that this pattern is so characteristic implies a 3D structure that can display this pattern from almost any angle of projection (the orientation of plasma cells on a slide is not uniform yet they characteristically project this similar pattern) as well as being typical even when the plasma cell nucleus is cut in partial section through any plane at any angle (as is the case with histological preparations). This raises the interesting question of which 3D structure can give rise to a similar 2D pattern under such a diverse set of projections and partial sections through any angle? After studying the 6 plasma cell nuclei in 3D (including “flying into” the nucleus and observation of chromatin from the inside in interactive VRML—see supplementary movie 1 of the supplementary material available online at doi: 10.1155/2012/898707 for an example of this type of exploration) I have attempted to summarise the 3D architectural basis for the characteristic “clock face” pattern. I must emphasise that what follows is a stylised simplified representation of the chromatin but does capture the essence of the 3D arrangement of the plasma cell chromatin for the purpose of explaining this morphological feature.
The chromatin in the mature plasma cell was found to be arranged in a variable number of peripheral clump units arranged in rings around the periphery. These peripheral clump units are the basic units of the pattern. Importantly, and perhaps counter-intuitively given the prominence of the central spot to the clock-face pattern, there is no tendency for a central clump (a clump at the 3D centre of the spheroidal nuclear space). In a detailed analysis, there are interesting connecting strands of chromatin in some plasma cell nuclei that pass through or near the centre (see supplementary movie 1) but these are not morphologically prominent as globular clumps neither are they a consistent feature in all plasma cells so do not take part in forming the characteristic central clump of the clock face pattern as seen in 2D projections/sections. The archetypal peripheral chromatin clump unit has an asymmetrical and curved conical shape shown in simplified form in Figure
The basic chromatin structural unit of the plasma cell nucleus (the “clump unit” described in the text). This is essentially an ovoid curved cone. Side views (at 90 degrees to each other) are shown on the top and a plan view is shown bottom left. An oblique angle view is shown bottom right. This shape, in the arrangement shown in Figure
The arrangement of the clump units is as a series of intersecting peripheral rings with the clump units in each ring all arranged with their bases abutting the nuclear envelope and tapered ends pointing towards the centre (but with variable rotation about the base-tip axis of the conical clump units). The clumps in each ring are approximately regularly spaced with sparse chromatin in between them. The rings of clump units intersect at various angles to cover the periphery of the nucleus approximately evenly. Where they intersect, two rings share 2 clump units (one at each diameter of the intersection). This arrangement of the bases of the clump units on the nuclear membrane is analogous to the arrangement of the pentagonal black patches on the surface of a standard soccer ball. The typical “clock face” as seen in histology has between 4 and 8 clumps (on average about 5 to 7 clumps) but fewer clumps are seen in 3D (only about 4 or 5 clump units are present in a single circumference) which indicates that parts of clump units from above and below the central plane contribute to the clock-face “numerals” as seen in 2D projections.
As noted above, there is no tendency for a central clump in 3D space. The characteristic central “blob” in the clock-face/cart-wheel pattern seen in histology and cytology is actually a projected image of the peripheral clump unit directly above and/or below the viewing plane as shown in Figure Peripheral clumps are always present in a radial and equally spaced distribution no matter what angle of projection is seen and for most partial slice projections at any angle. This angle-of-projection invariance explains why the feature of a peripheral ring of clock face “numerals” is so characteristic regardless of projection angle or section thickness. As the clump unit is conical there is nearly always some amount of central chromatin visible in the perpendicular axis of view even when the nucleus is not whole. This explains the characteristic feature of the central “hub” clump to the clock-face/cart-wheel. As the conical clump units are ovoid in cross-section this explains why some clumps appear broad and blunt while others appear thin and tapered. Whilst this is not a feature of the “clock-face” motif it is a typical observation of plasma cells in tissue sections.
The plasma cell clock-face or cart-wheel nuclear pattern as seen in 2D sections/projections from almost any angle can be explained by the multiradial arrangement of peripherally placed clump units. Top left shows 7 such units in a circle (some of these 7 will actually derive from peripheral clumps slightly out of the plane of the diagram). There is no central clump but these rings of clump units are arranged at multiple angles around the nucleus in 3D so that, at any angle of projection, there is likely to be a clump unit directly centred above or below (or both) the viewing plane and this creates the appearance of a central chromatin blob when seen in 2D projections (top right: the stippled clump is present at the periphery of the nucleus but in a plane that is perpendicular to the plane of the diagram). The bottom two panels show that even if much of the nucleus is cut away (as in a thin histology section) and we view it from the plane of that section (viewer “B” looking “down” onto the section) then we will still see a “clock-face” arrangement of clumps. Here, part of the conical extension of the bottom-most clump in the figure (labelled “A”) will form the central clump to the clock face even though it is only partially present due to the conical nature of these clump units and their radial orientation. From the viewpoint of observer “B” the stippled clump is now one of the peripheral “numerals” in the clock face and there will be a similar clump radially opposed to it out of the plane of the figure (not illustrated).
Supplementary movies 1 and 2 show fly-into sequences of the 3D structure of a typical plasma cell and hepatocyte nucleus. The grey levels have been inverted in these movies as this aids visual 3D depth cues but these are typical examples of the brightfield 3D data generated in this study. Note how the internal chromatin in the hepatocyte is characterised by more complex multiply branched internal connections in contrast to the plasma cell which has sparse and coarser internal connections. Also note the fine connections between peripheral clumps in the plasma cell which are not obvious from an external inspection as the great contrast of the large clumps throughout the nucleus superimposes on an external view. Thus the ability to fly “into” the nucleus and look at these clumps from the inside out reveals morphological detail not otherwise easily appreciable and is one of the advantages of the methods presented in this study.
Previous attempts at 3D chromatin structure evaluation have been described in the literature. Many of these use fluorescence microscopy and so are not applicable to routine brightfield staining so cannot be used to elucidate chromatin structure as we commonly see it in histology sections or cytology preparations and the structural resolution of the models has been crude relative to the methods used in the current work [
This paper has demonstrated the first results in human cells of a novel method of 3D brightfield light microscopy in the detailed imaging of nuclear chromatin with the formation of high resolution and fully interactive 3D models of the interphase nucleus. The method is applicable to routinely stained paraffin-embedded tissue sections. The models generated from 6 hepatocyte and 6 plasma cell nuclei were studied quantitatively and qualitatively and it was shown that the 3D information can give greater morphological discriminatory information than 2D sections/projections. Furthermore, study of the plasma cell chromatin in high resolution 3D resulted in a plausible microanatomical explanation of the characteristic clock-face nucleus that typifies plasma cells in 2D preparations.