3D organization of the rat adrenal medulla

Without knowledge of the spatial [three-dimensional, (3D)] organization of an organ at the tissue and cellular levels, it is impossible to form a complete picture of its structure and function. At the same time, tissue components hidden in the thickness of the organ are the most difficult to study. The rapid development of computer technologies has contributed both to the development and implementation of new methods for studying 3D microstructures of organs, and the improvement of classical ones but the most complete picture can still be obtained only by recreating 3D models from serial histological sections. This fully applies to the important, but hidden in the thickness of the organ, and difficult to study 3D organization of the adrenal medulla. Only 3D reconstruction from serial sections makes it possible to identify all the main tissue components of the adrenal medulla simultaneously and with good resolution. Of particular importance to this method is the ability to reliably differentiate and study separately the 3D organization of the two main subpopulations of medulla endocrinocytes: adrenaline-storing (A-) cells and noradrenaline-storing (NA-) cells. In this chapter, we discuss the 3D organization of the adrenal medulla based on these original serial section 3D reconstructions and correlating them with data obtained by other methods.