Improved sectioned images and surface models of the whole dog body.

The objective of this research was to produce high-quality sectioned images of a whole dog which can be used to create sectional anatomy atlases and three-dimensional (3D) models. A year old female beagle was sacrificed by potassium chloride injection and frozen. The frozen dog was then serially ground using a cryomacrotome. Sectioned surfaces were photographed using a digital camera to create 3555 sectioned images of whole dog body (intervals, 0.2 mm; pixel size, 0.1 mm; 48 bit color). In a sectioned image, structures of dimension greater than 0.1mm could be identified in detail. Photoshop was used to make segmented images of 16 structures. Sectioned and segmented images were stored in browsing software to allow easy access. Segmented images were reconstructed to make surface models of 16 structures using Mimics software and stored in portable document format (PDF) using Adobe 3D Reviewer software. In this research, state-of-art sectioned images and surface models were produced for the dog. The authors hope that the sectioned images produced will become a useful source of software for basic and clinical veterinary medicine, and therefore, are distributing the sectioned images and surface models through browsing software and PDF file available free of charge.