Journal article

Publication year: 2015

Pages: 63-72

Journal: Scanning

Volume number: 37

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 0161-0457

eISSN: 1932-8745

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/sca.21180

Publisher: Wiley Open Access

Abstract: 
Repetitive freeze/thaw cycles lead to a progressive loss of structural and molecular integrity in deep frozen specimens. The aim of this study was to evaluate a micro-CT stage, which maintains the cryoconservation of large specimens throughout micro-CT imaging. Deep frozen ovine vertebral segments (-20 degrees C) were fixed in a micro-CT stage made of expanded polystyrene and cooled with dry ice (0g, 60g and 120g). The temperature inside the stage was measured half-hourly over a time span of three hours with subsequent measurement of surface temperature. The method was validated in a series of 30 deep frozen vertebral specimens and in liver tissue after repetitive micro-CT scanning. Isolation without cooling resulted in defrosting. Cooling with 60g of dry ice led to a temperature rise inside the stage (max. 5.1 degrees C) and on the specimen surfaces (max. -3 degrees C). Cooling with 120g of dry ice resulted in a significant (p<0.001) and sufficient lowering of the temperature inside the stage (max. -14 degrees C) and on the surface of the specimens (max. -13.9 degrees C). The surface temperature during the subsequent micro-CT validation study did not exceed -16 degrees C (processing time 1h 45min). The resolution was 33m isotropic voxel side length, enabling a binarization of bone microstructures. Temperature can reliably be maintained below -10 degrees C during a micro-CT scan by applying the described technique. The resulting spatial resolution and image quality permits a binarization of bone microstructure. SCANNING 37:63-72, 2015. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Harvard Citation style: Kampschulte, M., Erdmann, G., Sender, J., Martels, G., Boecker, W., ElKhassawna, T., et al. (2015) The Development and Validation of Micro-CT of Large Deep Frozen Specimens, Scanning, 37(1), pp. 63-72. https://doi.org/10.1002/sca.21180

APA Citation style: Kampschulte, M., Erdmann, G., Sender, J., Martels, G., Boecker, W., ElKhassawna, T., Heiss, C., Langheinrich, A., Roeb, E., Roderfeld, M., & Krombach, G. (2015). The Development and Validation of Micro-CT of Large Deep Frozen Specimens. Scanning. 37(1), 63-72. https://doi.org/10.1002/sca.21180