Technique for the digital imaging of histopathologic preparations of eyes for research and publication

Although there are excellent techniques to photograph gross ocular pathology specimens, it is difficult to view or photograph the entire eye from a glass slide using equipment designed for photomicrography. This investigation was initiated to develop a technique to image the entire eye from a glass slide.

The glass histopathologic slide, placed in a carrier intended for 35-mm film transparencies, is inserted into a 35-mm slide scanner. The glass slide is scanned, creating a digital color image which may be converted to black and white with enhancement of certain histologic features. One may use a digital film recorder to produce 35-mm photographic transparencies or a dye sublimation printer to produce high-resolution color or black and white prints.

More than 400 ocular whole-mount preparations have been digitized in the authors' laboratory to generate illustrations suitable for publication or for analysis in morphologic research.

Digital techniques provide easier control over density and contrast than conventional photographic methods. Digitized images are well-suited for morphologic analyses in research. These techniques allow one to publish black and white photographs for books or journals while retaining the original color image for potential CD-ROM editions.