Multiscale 3-dimensional pathology findings of COVID-19 diseased lung using high-resolution cleared tissue microscopy

Guang Li; Sharon E. Fox; Brian Summa; Carola Wenk; Aibek Akmatbekov; Jack L. Harbert; Richard S. Vander Heide; J. Quincy Brown

The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not peer-reviewed) is the . Figure 1 . Multiscale 3-dimensional imaging of lung tissue demonstrating viral cytopathic changes, diffuse alveolar damage, and microangiopathy. a) Full 3-dimensional virtual H&E volume of a single gross slice of optically-cleared and fluorescently-stained lung tissue, measuring 7.8 mm × 5.9 mm × 0.9 mm and comprising 0.832 teravoxels at full resolution. A smaller volume (1.2 mm × 0.6 mm × 0.3 mm comprising 4.5 gigavoxels) was selected for detailed analysis (right inset). b) 2-dimensional virtual H&E sections of the smaller volume from (a). Megakaryocyte in the capillaries, infected cell clusters and infected pneumocytes in the alveolar spaces, and hyalinefibrin aggregates in the alveoli are apparent (yellow arrows). c) Selected 3-dimensional renderings corresponding to structures identified by yellow arrows in (b). 3D renderings of the tissue reveal nuclear, cellular, and tissue morphology in 3D.