Abstract
Stem cells have an important role in regenerative therapies, developmental biology studies and drug screening. Basic and translational research in stem cell technology needs more detailed imaging techniques. The possibility of cell-based therapeutic strategies has been validated in the stem cell field over recent years, a more detailed characterization of the properties of stem cells is needed for connectomics of large assemblies and structural analyses of these cells. The aim of stem cell imaging is the characterization of differentiation state, cellular function, purity and cell location. Recent progress in stem cell imaging field has included ultrasound-based technique to study living stem cells and florescence microscopy-based technique to investigate stem cell three-dimensional (3D) structures. Here, we summarized the fundamental characteristics of stem cells via 3D imaging methods and also discussed the emerging literatures on 3D imaging in stem cell research and the applications of both classical 2D imaging techniques and 3D methods on stem cells biology.
Highlights
Stem cells have greatly influenced our perspectives on mammalian development, disease and medical therapy
We focused on some important findings related to the 3D imaging researches of stem cell niches architectures enabled by old and new technologies
The stem cell field is a multilayered and multidisciplinary challenge, the combination of tissue clearing methods with 3D imaging techniques has extended the previous work based on conventional 2D imaging techniques, and has paved the way toward a systemic study of stem cell systems and pathologies that underlie it
Summary
Stem cells have greatly influenced our perspectives on mammalian development, disease and medical therapy. Born was the earliest one who reported a 3D reconstruction of anatomical parts of amphibians based on serial sectioning using light microscopy [25] and after years, Denk and Horstmann [26] used block-face scanning or serial sectioning for acquired 3D image in electron microscopy. This kind of scanning can be performed in every microscopy to obtain 3D images. This approach has been used recently to view different tissue textures (Table 2) In this method, a microtome was placed inside the chamber to make serial sectioning and imaging from each surface.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
