We have implemented and tested a new automatic method for the montage
synthesis and three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of large tissue
volumes from confocal laser scanning microscopy data (CLSM). This method
relies on maximization of the phase correlation between adjacent images.
It was tested on a large specimen (a murine heart) that was cut into a
number of individual sections with thickness appropriate for CLSM. The
sections were scanned horizontally (in-plane) and vertically
(perpendicular to the optical planes) to produce “tiles” of a
3D volume. Phase correlation maximization was applied to the montage
synthesis of in-plane tiles and 3D alignment of optical slices within a
given physical section. The performance of the new method is
evaluated.