Transverse Plane

This .gif animation (1.63MB) repeatedly travels from head to toe in ~135 transverse sections. Depending on your connection, the images will fly by quickly. Rather than trying to see everything at once (all of human anatomy!) try to follow the paths of organs such as the brain, heart, lungs and liver.

After watching it once or twice, see if you can identify a single organ on a single pass through the body. Can you identify which sections cut through the knees, or the kidneys?

Anterior (front)
Animation of Transverse Sections
Posterior (back)

Muscle and organs that have a rich blood supply (lungs, spleen, and kidney, e.g.) have a darker/reddish color. The red coloration comes from heme which is present in the proteins hemoglobin (red blood cells) and myoglobin (in muscle cells).

Yellow areas indicate tissues with significant amounts of fat. The layers of subcutaneous fat beneath the skin that help insulate our body and serve as a source of energy in times of starvation.

White areas are usually bones, cartilage, tendons which attach muscles to bones, and ligaments which connect bones to other bones across the joints, or skin.

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