Figure 1. 3D models of developing ovaries provide a new perspective of ovary morphology.

(A) 3D model generated by isosurface segmentation of lightsheet images taken of a whole XX embryo at E14.5 immunostained for PAX8 (kidney, reproductive ducts, green, red) and FOXL2 (gonad, cyan). (B) Caudal and cranial views of the surfaces representing the urogenital system, with and without the kidney surfaces, isolated from the whole embryo images in (A). (C) Close-ups of dorsal, ventral, medial, and lateral views of the surfaces representing the ovary and reproductive ducts, isolated from the images in (A). MD, Müllerian duct; MT, mesonephric tubule; WD, Wolffian duct. Yellow asterisks indicate the location of the infundibulum of the presumptive oviduct for reference. Compasses on the bottom left of each panel indicate the orientation of the ovary: A, anterior; D, dorsal; L, lateral; M, medial; P, posterior; V, ventral. Scale bars, 100 μm.

Figure 1—video 1. 3D model of an XX embryo at E14.5.

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Imaris isosurface segmentation tool was used to generate 3D models of the whole embryo volume (grayscale, based on background staining), the kidneys (green, based on PAX8 immunolabeling), the reproductive tract epithelia (red, based on PAX8 labeling), and the ovary (cyan, based on FOXL2 immunolabeling). The video shows rotation and close-ups of the sample to view different aspects of the complexes in their native context.