Imaging intact human organs from the organ to the cellular scale in three dimensions is a goal of biomedical imaging. To meet this challenge, we developed hierarchical phase-contrast tomography ...(HiP-CT), an X-ray phase propagation technique using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)'s Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS). The spatial coherence of the ESRF-EBS combined with our beamline equipment, sample preparation and scanning developments enabled us to perform non-destructive, three-dimensional (3D) scans with hierarchically increasing resolution at any location in whole human organs. We applied HiP-CT to image five intact human organ types: brain, lung, heart, kidney and spleen. HiP-CT provided a structural overview of each whole organ followed by multiple higher-resolution volumes of interest, capturing organotypic functional units and certain individual specialized cells within intact human organs. We demonstrate the potential applications of HiP-CT through quantification and morphometry of glomeruli in an intact human kidney and identification of regional changes in the tissue architecture in a lung from a deceased donor with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Trimodal low-dose X-ray tomography Zanette, I; Bech, M; Rack, A ...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
06/2012, Letnik:
109, Številka:
26
Journal Article
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X-ray grating interferometry is a coherent imaging technique that bears tremendous potential for three-dimensional tomographic imaging of soft biological tissue and other specimens whose details ...exhibit very weak absorption contrast. It is intrinsically trimodal, delivering phase contrast, absorption contrast, and scattering (“dark-field”) contrast. Recently reported acquisition strategies for grating-interferometric phase tomography constitute a major improvement of dose efficiency and speed. In particular, some of these techniques eliminate the need for scanning of one of the gratings (“phase stepping”). This advantage, however, comes at the cost of other limitations. These can be a loss in spatial resolution, or the inability to fully separate the three imaging modalities. In the present paper we report a data acquisition and processing method that optimizes dose efficiency but does not share the main limitations of other recently reported methods. Although our method still relies on phase stepping, it effectively uses only down to a single detector frame per projection angle and yields images corresponding to all three contrast modalities. In particular, this means that dark-field imaging remains accessible. The method is also compliant with data acquisition over an angular range of only 180° and with a continuous rotation of the specimen.
Because of its close relationship to tetrapods, Eusthenopteron is an important taxon for understanding the establishment of the tetrapod body plan. Notably, it is one of the earliest sarcopterygians ...in which the humerus of the pectoral fin skeleton is preserved. The microanatomical and histological organization of this humerus provides important data for understanding the evolutionary steps that built up the distinctive architecture of tetrapod limb bones. Previous histological studies showed that Eusthenopteron's long-bone organization was established through typical tetrapod ossification modalities. Based on a three-dimensional reconstruction of the inner microstructure of Eusthenopteron's humerus, obtained from propagation phase-contrast X-ray synchrotron microtomography, we are now able to show that, despite ossification mechanisms and growth patterns similar to those of tetrapods, it also retains plesiomorphic characters such as a large medullary cavity, partly resulting from the perichondral ossification around a large cartilaginous bud as in actinopterygians. It also exhibits a distinctive tubular organization of bone-marrow processes. The connection between these processes and epiphyseal structures highlights their close functional relationship, suggesting that either bone marrow played a crucial role in the long-bone elongation processes or that trabecular bone resulting from the erosion of hypertrophied cartilage created a microenvironment for haematopoietic stem cell niches.
Growth and patterning of craniofacial sutures is subjected to the effects of mechanical stress. Mechanotransduction processes occurring at the margins of the sutures are not precisely understood. ...Here, we propose a simple theoretical model based on the orientation of collagen fibres within the suture in response to local stress. We demonstrate that fibre alignment generates an instability leading to the emergence of interdigitations. We confirm the appearance of this instability both analytically and numerically. To support our model, we use histology and synchrotron X-ray microtomography and reveal the fine structure of fibres within the sutural mesenchyme and their insertion into the bone. Furthermore, using a mouse model with impaired mechanotransduction, we show that the architecture of sutures is disturbed when forces are not interpreted properly. Finally, by studying the structure of sutures in the mouse, the rat, an actinopterygian (Polypterus bichir) and a placoderm (Compagopiscis croucheri), we show that bone deposition patterns during dermal bone growth are conserved within jawed vertebrates. In total, these results support the role of mechanical constraints in the growth and patterning of craniofacial sutures, a process that was probably effective at the emergence of gnathostomes, and provide new directions for the understanding of normal and pathological suture fusion.
Lungfishes are known for, and indeed take their name from, their bimodal respiratory abilities. All three extant genera can use their lungs to extract oxygen from the atmosphere, although their ...reliance upon this capability differs among taxa. Lungs are considered primitive for the Osteichthyes, however the distinctive buccal pump mode of air gulping exhibited by extant lungfishes appears to be a specialization. It is associated with a number of derived skeletal characters (cranial ribs, long parasphenoid stalk, midline gap between palatal tooth plates) that first appeared during the Devonian. These have been described individually, but in no Devonian lungfish has their three-dimensional (3D) spatial relationship been reconstructed and analyzed. Here we present the 3D morphology of Rhinodipterus, a Mid-Late Devonian lungfish from Australia and Europe, based on synchrotron tomography and conventional microtomography scans. Unlike less crownward contemporaneous lungfishes such as Griphognathus and Chirodipterus, Rhinodipterus has a full set of skeletal buccal pump components that can be directly compared to those of extant lungfishes, suggesting that it made more extensive use of air breathing than other Gogo or Bergisch Gladbach genera. This is interesting in relation to the environmental context as Gogo and Bergisch Gladbach are both marine, contrasting with the frequently hypoxic tropical to subtropical fresh water environments inhabited by modern lungfishes. The evolution of buccal pump-supported lung ventilation was evidently not necessarily associated with a transition to non-marine habitats.
The locomotion of early tetrapods has long been a subject of great interest in the evolutionary history of vertebrates. However, we still do not have a precise understanding of the evolutionary ...radiation of their locomotory strategies. We present here the first palaeohistological study based on theoretical biomechanical considerations among a highly diversified group of early tetrapods, the temnospondyls. Based on the quantification of microanatomical and histological parameters in the humerus and femur of nine genera, this multivariate analysis provides new insights concerning the adaptations of temnospondyls to their palaeoenvironments during the Early Permian, and clearly after the Permo-Triassic crisis. This study therefore presents a methodology that, if based on a bigger sample, could contribute towards a characterization of the behaviour of species during great evolutionary events.
Reproduction with giant sperm occurs in distinct groups scattered over the animal kingdom. Although experiments in Drosophila assessed the influence of different selection pressures on this ...character, no information was available on its long-term stability. Sub-micrometer-resolution synchrotron quantitative phase tomography (holotomography) of exceptionally well-preserved three-dimensional Cretaceous ostracode fossils from the Brazilian Santana Formation indicates that ostracode reproduction with giant sperm persisted for at least over the past 100 million years. Remnants of the male sperm pumps as well as giant, inflated female sperm receptacles evidence that, despite high costs, reproduction with giant sperm can be an evolutionary successful strategy.
Aim and scope
The developmental genetics and the biomechanics of sutures are well-studied topics, while their microanatomy is still imperfectly known. Here, we aim to investigate the structure of ...skull vault sutures using a high-resolution imaging device.
Material and methods
We used synchrotron X-ray microtomography in order to obtain high-resolution images of skull vault sutures from an extant mammal (the mouse
Mus musculus
) and from an extinct fish (the placoderm
Compagopiscis croucheri
). We used segmentation and 3D reconstruction softwares in order to reveal the microanatomy of sutures in these species.
Results
The high-resolution images allowed us to study the distribution of osteocytes, the organisation of vascular canals, the shapes of the suture borders, the insertion of Sharpey's fibres, the bone growth lines and the structure of the soft tissues surrounding the sutures.
Conclusion
Synchrotron imaging provides new perspectives for the study of the normal microanatomy of sutures. The submicronic resolution of the synchrotron scans gives access to the 3D organisation of structures that were previously only known in 2D, even in normal sutures. The description of anatomical entities such as vascular canals and Sharpey's fibres in abnormally fused sutures would be of interest in the understanding of craniosynostoses.
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