Ethanol fixation method for heart and lung imaging in micro-CT

Purpose The soft tissue imaging in micro-CT remains challenging due to its low intrinsic contrast. The aim of this study was to create a simple staining method omitting the usage of contrast agents for ex vivo soft tissue imaging in micro-CT. Materials and methods Hearts and lungs from 30 mice were...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Japanese journal of radiology 2019-06, Vol.37 (6), p.500-510
Main Authors: Patzelt, Matej, Mrzilkova, Jana, Dudak, Jan, Krejci, Frantisek, Zemlicka, Jan, Karch, Jakub, Musil, Vladimir, Rosina, Jozef, Sykora, Viktor, Horehledova, Barbora, Zach, Petr
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computed tomography
Contrast agents
Ethanol
Fixation
Hardening
Image acquisition
Imaging
Lungs
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Nuclear Medicine
Organs
Original Article
Radiology
Radiotherapy
Tissues
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Purpose The soft tissue imaging in micro-CT remains challenging due to its low intrinsic contrast. The aim of this study was to create a simple staining method omitting the usage of contrast agents for ex vivo soft tissue imaging in micro-CT. Materials and methods Hearts and lungs from 30 mice were used. Twenty-seven organs were either fixed in 97% or 50% ethanol solution or in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations. Images were acquired after 72, 168 and 336 h on a custom-built micro-CT machine and compared to scans of three native samples. Results Ethanol provided contrast enhancement in all evaluated fixations. Fixation in 97% ethanol resulted in contrast enhancement after 72 h; however, it caused hardening of the samples. Fixation in 50% ethanol provided contrast enhancement after 336 h, with milder hardening, compared to the 97% ethanol fixation, but the visualization of details was worse. The fixation in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations provided the most satisfactory results; all organs were visualized in great detail without tissue damage. Conclusions Simple ethanol fixation improves the tissue contrast enhancement in micro-CT. The best results can be obtained with fixation of the soft tissue samples in a series of ascending ethanol concentrations.
ISSN:1867-1071
1867-108X
DOI:10.1007/s11604-019-00830-6