title: High-Resolution X-Ray Techniques as New Tool to Investigate the 3D Vascularization of Engineered-Bone Tissue.
abstract: The understanding of structure-function relationships in normal and pathologic mammalian tissues is at the basis of a tissue engineering (TE) approach for the development of biological substitutes to restore or improve tissue function. In this framework, it is interesting to investigate engineered bone tissue, formed when porous ceramic constructs are loaded with bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) and implanted in vivo. To monitor the relation between bone formation and vascularization, it is important to achieve a detailed imaging and a quantitative description of the complete three-dimensional vascular network in such constructs. Here, we used synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast micro-tomography to visualize and analyze the three-dimensional micro-vascular networks in bone-engineered constructs, in an ectopic bone formation mouse-model. We compared samples seeded and not seeded with BMSC, as well as samples differently stained or unstained. Thanks to the high quality of the images, we investigated the 3D distribution of both vessels and collagen matrix and we obtained quantitative information for all different samples. We propose our approach as a tool for quantitative studies of angiogenesis in TE and for any pre-clinical investigation where a quantitative analysis of the vascular network is required.
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto NANOTEC, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Inna
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bukreeva
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto NANOTEC, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza , Rome , Italy ; Department of Science, Roma Tre University , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fratini
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Cristallografia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Gaetano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Campi
authors.affiliation: School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University , Melbourne, VIC , Australia ; Australian Synchrotron , Clayton, VIC , Australia ; School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University , Clayton, VIC , Australia.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pelliccia
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale dell'Università di Genova, AOU San Martino-IST , Genova , Italy.
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spanò
authors.affiliation: Elettra - Synchrotron Radiation Trieste S.C.p.A , Trieste , Italy.
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tromba
authors.affiliation: Elettra - Synchrotron Radiation Trieste S.C.p.A , Trieste , Italy ; Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università di Trieste , Trieste , Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.affiliation: European Synchrotron Radiation Facility , Grenoble , France ; Department of Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University , Ghent , Belgium.
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Burghammer
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza , Rome , Italy ; Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grilli
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale dell'Università di Genova, AOU San Martino-IST , Genova , Italy.
authors.forename: Ranieri
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cancedda
authors.affiliation: Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto NANOTEC, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Sapienza , Rome , Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cedola
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale dell'Università di Genova, AOU San Martino-IST , Genova , Italy.
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mastrogiacomo
keywords: X-ray micro-diffraction; X-ray phase-contrast tomography; bone tissue; tissue engineering; vascularization