Data from: Whole-organism 3D quantitative characterization of zebrafish melanin by silver deposition micro-CT

Melanin-rich zebrafish melanophores are used to study pigment development,
human skin color, and as a large-scale screening phenotype. To facilitate
more detailed whole-body, computational analyses of melanin content and
morphology, we have combined X-ray microtomography (micro-CT), a
non-destructive, full-volume imaging modality, with a novel application of
ionic silver staining to characterize melanin distribution in whole
zebrafish larvae. Normalized micro-CT reconstructions of silver-stained
fish consistently reproduced pigment patterns seen by light microscopy,
and allowed direct quantitative comparisons of melanin content across
wild-type and mutant samples, for both dramatic and subtle phenotypes not
previously described. Silver staining of melanin for micro-CT provides
proof-of-principle for whole-body, three-dimensional computational
phenomic analysis of a particular cell type at cellular resolution, with
potential applications in other model organisms and human melanoma
biopsies. Whole-organism, high-resolution phenotyping is a challenging
ideal, but provides superior context for functional studies of mutations,
diseases, and environmental influences.