3D reconstruction of murine hepatic vasculature via serial sectioning SS-OCT imaging

In this paper, we report an integrated framework for the high-resolution 3D reconstruction of hepatic tissue and vasculature, combining innovative hardware with a tailored algorithmic pipeline to support mechanistic studies of liver disease. A custom-built system synchronizes swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) with automated tissue slicing, facilitating uninterrupted volumetric imaging. A dedicated software pipeline corrects imaging distortions, segments vasculature via a cascaded approach, and applies a novel radial structure consistency correction (RSCC) algorithm to ensure precision in large-vessel delineation. To validate the system, comprehensive volumetric experiments were conducted on a murine liver dataset acquired by the proposed custom-built apparatus. This methodology reveals the full spatial organization and branching patterns of the hepatic vascular tree. Comprehensive quantitative analysis, through skeletonization, density, and diameter mapping, provides detailed blood vessel network characterization. This work establishes a robust, quantitative approach for reconstructing complex vascular systems, creating a powerful tool for investigating tissue and vascular alterations in liver diseases.