Vascular imaging with contrast agent in hard and soft tissues using microcomputed-tomography
Résumé
Vascularization is essential for many tissues and is a main requisite for various tissue-engineering strategies. Different techniques are used for highlighting vasculature, in vivo and ex vivo, in 2-D or 3-D including histological staining, immunohistochemistry, radiography, angiography, microscopy, computed tomography (CT) or micro-CT, both stand-alone and
synchrotron system. Vascularization can be studied with or without a contrast agent. This paper presents the results
obtained with the latest Skyscan micro-CT (Skyscan 1272, Bruker, Belgium) following barium sulphate injection replacing
the bloodstream in comparison with results obtained with a Skyscan In Vivo 1076. Different hard and soft tissues were
perfused with contrast agent and were harvested. Samples were analysed using both forms of micro-CT, and improved
resultswere shown using this new micro-CT. This study highlights the vasculature using micro-CT methods. The results
obtained with the Skyscan 1272 are clearly defined compared to results obtained with Skyscan 1076. In particular, this instrument highlights the high number of small vessels, which were not seen before at lower resolution. This new micro-CT
opens broader possibilities in detection and characterization of the 3-D vascular tree to assess vascular tissue engineering
strategies.
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