Nature CommunicationsBioinformaticsPeer-reviewed journal article
Functional Tissue Units in the Human Reference Atlas
Supriya BidantaiD, Katy BörneriD, Bruce W. HerriD, Ellen M. QuardokusiD, Marcell NagyiD, Katherine S. GustiloiD, Rachel BajemaiD, Elizabeth MaieriD, Roland MolontayiD, Griffin M. WeberiD
Abstract
Functional tissue units (FTUs) form the basic building blocks of organs and are important for understanding and modeling the healthy physiological function of the organ and changes during disease states. In this first comprehensive catalog of FTUs, we document the definition, physical dimensions, vasculature, and cellular composition of 22 anatomically correct, nested functional tissue units (FTUs) in 10 healthy human organs. The catalog includes datasets, illustrations, an interactive online FTU explorer, and a large printable poster. All data and code are freely available. This is part of a larger ongoing international effort to construct a Human Reference Atlas (HRA) of all cells in the human body.
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