High-resolution imaging of kidney vascular corrosion casts with Nano-CT.
A vascular corrosion cast of an entire mouse kidney was scanned with a modular multiresolution X-ray nanotomography system. Using an isotropic voxel pitch of 0.5 μm, capillary systems such as the vasa recta, peritubular capillaries and glomeruli were clearly resolved. This represents a considerable improvement over corrosion casts scanned with microcomputed tomography systems. The resolving power of this system was clearly demonstrated by the unique observation of a dense, subcapsular mat of capillaries enveloping the entire outer surface of the cortical region. Resolution of glomerular capillaries was comparable to similar models derived from laser scanning confocal microscopy. The high-resolution, large field of view and the three-dimensional nature of the resulting data opens new possibilities for the use of corrosion casting in research.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, USA. Rags@udel.edu
Roger
R
Wagner
Denis
D
Van Loo
Fred
F
Hossler
Kirk
K
Czymmek
Elin
E
Pauwels
Luc
L
Van Hoorebeke
D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000737:chemistry*; D016319:Corrosion Casting; D007668:Kidney / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed