149 - Using the Blood Vasculature as a Coordinate System to Map the Human Body, from Whole Organs down to Microvasculature

Poster Board Number: 149
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Abstract Body : Introduction and Objective: The Human Reference Atlas (HRA) is a major international project bringing together 150+ scientists across 17 consortia to map all the anatomical structures, cells, and biomarkers of the human body [1]. To navigate through the HRA, which spans from the macroscopic to microscopic scale, we hypothesize that the blood vasculature can be used as a multi-scale coordinate system, so that a precise location in the body can be described using distances relative to nearby blood vessels [2]. Because the vasculature scales to different body shapes and sizes, this method provides a natural way to align specimens from different donors. As a first step towards creating this coordinate system, we recently built the first open, computer-readable, and comprehensive database of the adult human blood vasculature, called the Human Reference Atlas-Vasculature Common Coordinate Framework (HRA-VCCF), which includes 1,029 blood vessels as well as additional information such as branching connections between vessels, anastomoses, and portal systems (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6867852). It combines vasculature information from other databases, including Terminologia Anatomica, UBERON, and FMA, with additional data from domain experts. This poster describes ongoing work to extend the HRA-VCCF by adding microvasculature details and mapping vessels to organ structures, tissues and cell types.

Materials and Methods: In parallel to our work on vasculature, other HRA groups are creating organ-specific data tables of anatomical structures. We collaborate with them to map vessels to structures in each organ table. We created a special type of schematic diagram of an organ’s vasculature, from large vessels down to capillaries, which has become an essential visual aid in performing the mappings and identifying knowledge gaps. The diagrams distort the true anatomical shape of the organ in order to unravel and straighten the vascular pathways. This makes it easier to follow the length of a pathway to ensure that each part is mapped to the correct structure.

Results and Conclusion: As a proof-of-concept, we constructed a diagram of pancreas vasculature. It greatly facilitated the collaboration with the HRA pancreas experts, for example, by modifying the “textbook” mappings to better align with recent discoveries about blood flow out of the pancreatic islets in humans. The final mappings for 27 pancreas vessels were published in the latest release of the HRA-VCCF database. Since then, we have also created vasculature diagrams and mappings for the kidney, spleen, liver, and lung.

Significance/Implication: This is a work in progress that demonstrates how the HRA will map blood vasculature to organ structures, which is a necessary step towards building a vasculature-based coordinate system for the body.

Acknowledgements: This project was funded by NIH award OT2OD026671 and inspired by Zorina Galis.

References:
1. Börner K, Teichmann SA, Quardokus EM, et al. Anatomical structures, cell types and biomarkers of the Human Reference Atlas. Nat Cell Biol. 2021 Nov;23(11):1117-1128.
2. Weber GM, Ju Y, Börner K. Considerations for Using the Vasculature as a Coordinate System to Map All the Cells in the Human Body. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2020 Mar 13;7:29.