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Updated: May 6, 2026

Non-invasive 3D-Visualization with Sub-micron Resolution Using Synchrotron-X-ray-tomography
Published on: May 27, 2008
Contrasting of biological samples for X-ray synchrotron microtomography
O I Efimova1, A S Khlebnikov, R A Senin
1Laboratory of Neurobiology of Memory, P. K. Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences; Neurocognitive NTK, Kurchatov NBIC-center, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"; Synchrotron and Neutron NTK, Kurchatov NBIC-center, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia. Efimova_OI@nrcki.ru.
Abstract:
The method of contrasting with iodine ions was developed to obtain high-resolution 3D images of large biological specimens using a synchrotron X-ray microtomography unit. It was shown that the samples (late mouse embryos) treated with 50% Lugol solution with addition of 25% ethanol for 48 h followed by a 48-h washout in phosphate buffered saline had maximum contrast and lowest compression artifacts. Processing of samples by this protocol allowed detecting zones of active proliferation. Incubation of brain samples for 120 h in 7.6% meglumine/sodium diatrizoate without washout ensured the best contrast during myelin identification.
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