Multiview robotic microscope reveals the in-plane kinematics of amphibian neurulation

A new robotic microscope system, called the Frogatron 3000, was developed to collect time-lapse images from arbitrary viewing angles over the surface of live embryos. Embryos are mounted at the center of a horizontal, fluid-filled, cylindrical glass chamber around which a camera with special optics traverses. To hold them at the center of the chamber and revolve them about a vertical axis, the embryos are placed on the end of a small vertical glass tube that is rotated under computer control. To demonstrate operation of the system, it was used to capture time-lapse images of developing axolotl (amphibian) embryos from 63 viewing angles during the process of neurulation and the in-plane kinematics of the epithelia visible at the center of each view was calculated. The motions of points on the surface of the embryo were determined by digital tracking of their natural surface texture, and a least-squares algorithm was developed to calculate the deformation-rate tensor from the motions of these surface points. Principal strain rates and directions were extracted from this tensor using decomposition and eigenvector techniques. The highest observed principal true strain rate was 28 +/- 5% per hour, along the midline of the neural plate during developmental stage 14, while the greatest contractile true strain rate was--35 +/- 5% per hour, normal to the embryo midline during stage 15.