A group of Danish researchers have demonstrated three-dimensional sub-micrometre imaging of a whole, multi-millimetre sized, mantis shrimp eye. The eye was chosen to show the imaging opportunities of highly complex biological tissue at a fourth generation synchrotron.
The mantis shrimp is most well-known for punching prey using their club. They also have one of the most advanced eyes of all creatures in nature. Where humans have three channels for colour, red, green and blue, the mantis shrimp has sixteen. Apart from the usual colours of visual light, the shrimp can see both ultraviolet and polarised light as well. However, the mantis shrimp eye is still quite poorly understood by science. To study this type of tissue, fourth generation synchrotrons are very useful tools with enhanced contrast mechanisms and three-dimensional imaging capabilities.
For imaging the mantis shrimp eye and other biological tissue, a goal is to achieve a wide field of view and image the entire structure while maintaining high resolution in three dimensions. This way, it will be possible to “zoom” in on the image, and the microscopic structures can be understood within the context of the larger tissue.
“The most important result of our study was that we were able to image the entire eye in three dimensions. This allowed us to quantify specific structures within the eye, which paves the way for future simulation and modelling of the optical properties of these fascinating eyes,” say the researchers.
The imaging method opens the important possibility of gathering quantitative data and statistics that would not be possible in two dimensions. This allowed for studying the details of the muscles that move the eye and the photo filters, a pigment that is found before each unit of the compound like eye.
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