Internal Structure Observations of Biological Specimens using High Precision Cutting

Abstract

3-Dimensional Inernal Structure Microscopes (3D-ISM) have been developed by the authors, which were able to observe internal structures of biological samples by cutting cross-sections with rotating knives. A number of different biological samples were successfully observed by this method. However, this method was effective only for soft tissues due to the cutting mechanism with a flat and thin rotating knife. In this report, a new method used in precision metalworking with single crystalline diamond fly-cutting tool on a ultrahigh precision machine tool was used. We developed a special device based on the milling machine for this method.A mirror-like cross-sections of a biological sample containig hard tissues like bones were obtained and clear images of micro internal structure of hard tissues were observed.