Hierarchical microimaging for multiscale analysis of large vascular networks

Area of Science:

• Vascular biology
• Medical imaging
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Altered vascular systems are linked to various diseases and physiological processes.
• Ex vivo imaging of large vascular networks has advanced with microcomputed tomography (microCT).
• Current methods often limit visualization to excised regions of interest (ROIs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel hierarchical imaging method for nondestructive 3D visualization and quantification of large microvascular networks.
• To retain precise anatomical context for high-resolution imaging of ROIs.
• To enable detailed study of vessel architecture and vascular alterations.

Main Methods:

• Modified vascular corrosion casting (VCC) combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
• Desktop and synchrotron radiation microCT (SRmicroCT) for hierarchical imaging at increasing resolutions.
• Custom navigation software for ROI selection and a framework for high-throughput scanning of mouse brain VCCs.

Main Results:

• Nondestructive 3D visualization of entire mouse brain vascular networks at 16-microm resolution.
• High-resolution (1.4-microm voxel size) scanning of selected ROIs using SRmicroCT.
• Exceptional image quality achieved with SRmicroCT, enabling qualitative and quantitative assessment.

Conclusions:

• The developed hierarchical imaging method offers unprecedented resolution and volume for vascular network analysis.
• This approach facilitates the study of vessel architecture and vascular alterations in disease models.
• The method opens new possibilities for high-throughput, detailed vascular research.