Abstract
The three-dimensional computer images of the alignment of collagen III fibrils at epithelial-mesen-chymal interfaces during critical stages of submandibular gland morphogenesis in the 12- to 13-day-old mouse embryos were reconstructed from serial paraffin sections stained with an anti-collagen III antibody. The computer program used for processing section data was Cosmozone 2S, which required only a personal computer and a coordinate digitizer interfaced to the computer graphics system. The mid 12-day gland with a round lobule showed a rather randomly scattered distribution of the collagen on the surfaces of the lobule and stalk. The interface at the joining portion of the lobule and stalk showed a significant accumula-tion. In the late 12-day gland with signs of cleft initiation, a specific accumulation of the collagen was clearly seen on basal epithelial surface in shallow clefts. This tendency was much more evident as cleft formation proceeded. The images reconstructed from both frontal and transverse section data of the 13-day gland indicated that epithelial surface of the cleft was surrounded by continuous collagen bundles, suggesting the involvement of the collagen during the epithelial branching.
