Real-time True-color Volume Visualization of Multi-channel 3D CLSM Images Based on CUDA

Confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) can obtain multi-channel 3D images from biological tissues for analysis of tissue structures, where each channel results from a particular fluorescent label. The visualization of the multi-channel 3D confocal microscope images is required for qualitative, interactive, and even quantitative analysis of the structures of the studied tissues. Despite the available volume rendering algorithms for visualization of single-channel 3D images, the algorithms and toolkits specially used for true-color volume visualization of multi-channel 3D confocal microscope images were seldom reported. We have developed a new true-color volume rendering tool for real-time volume visualization of the multi-channel 3D confocal microscope images based on compute unified device architecture (CUDA). Manipulations including rotation, translation, and zooming are integrated with the volume rendering for interactive analysis of the multi-channel 3D images. In this paper, the methodologies of the tool are described and experimental results are illustrated. The tool is free of charge for research purpose.