High contrast microstructural visualization of natural acellular matrices by means of phase-based x-ray tomography

Charlotte K. Hagen (1) , Panagiotis Maghsoudlou (2) , Giorgia Totonelli (2) , Paul C. Diemoz (1) , Marco Endrizzi (1) , Luigi Rigon (3, 4) , Ralf-Hendrik Menk (5) , Fulvia Arfelli (4) , Diego Dreossi (5) , Emmanuel Brun (6) , Paola Coan (7, 8) , Alberto Bravin (6) , Paolo de Coppi (2) , Alessandro Olivo (1)

1 UCL, Dept Med Phys & Biomed Engn, London WC1E 6BT, England
2 UCL, Inst Child Hlth, London WC1N 1EH, England
3 Ist Nazl Fis Nucl, Sez Trieste, I-34127 Trieste, Italy
4 Università degli studi di Trieste = University of Trieste
5 Sincrotrone Trieste SCpA, I-34012 Basovizza Trieste, Italy
6 ESRF - European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
7 Univ Munich, Dept Phys, D-85748 Garching, Germany
8 Univ Munich, Fac Med, D-81377 Grosshadern Munich, Germany

Acellular scaffolds obtained via decellularization are a key instrument in regenerative medicine both per se and to drive the development of future-generation synthetic scaffolds that could become available off-the-shelf. In this framework, imaging is key to the understanding of the scaffolds' internal structure as well as their interaction with cells and other organs, including ideally post-implantation. Scaffolds of a wide range of intricate organs (esophagus, lung, liver and small intestine) were imaged with x-ray phase contrast computed tomography (PC-CT). Image quality was sufficiently high to visualize scaffold microarchitecture and to detect major anatomical features, such as the esophageal mucosal-submucosal separation, pulmonary alveoli and intestinal villi. These results are a long-sought step for the field of regenerative medicine; until now, histology and scanning electron microscopy have been the gold standard to study the scaffold structure. However, they are both destructive: hence, they are not suitable for imaging scaffolds prior to transplantation, and have no prospect for post-transplantation use. PC-CT, on the other hand, is non-destructive, 3D and fully quantitative. Importantly, not only do we demonstrate achievement of high image quality at two different synchrotron facilities, but also with commercial x-ray equipment, which makes the method available to any research laboratory

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Charlotte K. Hagen, Panagiotis Maghsoudlou, Giorgia Totonelli, Paul C. Diemoz, Marco Endrizzi, et al.. High contrast microstructural visualization of natural acellular matrices by means of phase-based x-ray tomography. Scientific Reports, 2015, 5, 10 p. ⟨10.1038/srep18156⟩. ⟨hal-01573005⟩