title: Advancing ovarian folliculometry with selective plane illumination microscopy.
abstract: Determination of ovarian status and follicle monitoring are common methods of diagnosing female infertility. We evaluated the suitability of selective plane illumination microscopy (SPIM) for the study of ovarian follicles. The large field of view and fast acquisition speed of our SPIM system enables rendering of volumetric image stacks from intact whole porcine ovarian follicles, clearly visualizing follicular features including follicle volume and average diameter (70 μm-2.5 mm), their spherical asymmetry parameters, size of developing cumulus oophorus complexes (40 μm-110 μm), and follicular wall thickness (90 μm-120 μm). Follicles at all developmental stages were identified. A distribution of the theca thickness was measured for each follicle, and a relationship between these distributions and the stages of follicular development was discerned. The ability of the system to non-destructively generate sub-cellular resolution 3D images of developing follicles, with excellent image contrast and high throughput capacity compared to conventional histology, suggests that it can be used to monitor follicular development and identify structural abnormalities indicative of ovarian ailments. Accurate folliculometric measurements provided by SPIM images can immensely help the understanding of ovarian physiology and provide important information for the proper management of ovarian diseases.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.|Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Ismaningerstraße 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hsiao-Chun Amy
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Chair of Livestock Biotechnology, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann Straße 1, 85354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Rahul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dutta
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.|Chair for Biological Imaging, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Technische Universität München, Arcisstraße 21, 80333 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Subhamoy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.affiliation: Chair of Livestock Biotechnology, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann Straße 1, 85354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kind
authors.affiliation: Chair of Livestock Biotechnology, Technische Universität München, Liesel-Beckmann Straße 1, 85354 Freising, Germany.
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schnieke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany.|Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Ismaningerstraße 22, 81675 Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Razansky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007247:Infertility, Female / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D008853:Microscopy / Q000662:veterinary; D006080:Ovarian Follicle / Q000166:cytology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D013552:Swine