Phase-contrast X-ray microtomography of mouse fetus

A phase-contrast X-ray microtomography system using the Talbot imaging has been built at the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility. This system has much higher density resolution than absorption-based X-ray microtomography. The tomographic sections of formalin-fixed mouse fetuses obtained with this method clearly depict various organs without any staining at a pixel resolution of up to 5 µm. Since this technique allows us to obtain three-dimensional structural information without sectioning, it will be particularly useful to examine anomalies that take place during development. It can be also used to quantitatively measure volume and mass of organs during development.