Comprehensive Analysis of Animal Models of Cardiovascular Disease using Multiscale X-Ray Phase Contrast Tomography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical imaging
• Cardiovascular research
• Medical physics

Background:

• Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) cause significant heart remodelling at cellular and organ levels.
• Current imaging methods often fail to provide non-destructive, high-resolution 3D assessments of cardiac tissue.
• Understanding multiscale cardiac changes is crucial for diagnosing CVDs and evaluating treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of synchrotron Propagation-based X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging (PB-X-PCI) for multi-resolution cardiac tissue analysis.
• To demonstrate the capability of PB-X-PCI in assessing both macroscopic and microscopic features of cardiac structures.
• To showcase a novel approach for studying cardiovascular disease-induced heart remodelling.

Main Methods:

• Utilized synchrotron PB-X-PCI for time-efficient, non-destructive 3D imaging of cardiac tissues from healthy and diseased rat models.
• Developed a dedicated image processing pipeline for analyzing PB-X-PCI data.
• Compared imaging results with conventional histology and existing literature.

Main Results:

• PB-X-PCI successfully visualized cardiac morphology, myocyte orientation, vasculature, fibrosis, and cellular arrangements at multiple resolutions.
• The technique provided high-quality 3D images without altering the cardiac tissue samples.
• Results demonstrated strong agreement with established histological findings.

Conclusions:

• Synchrotron PB-X-PCI is a powerful tool for ex-vivo, multi-resolution structural investigation of the heart.
• This imaging approach enhances the understanding of multiscale remodelling processes in cardiovascular diseases.
• The technique facilitates comprehensive and rapid assessment of potential therapeutic interventions for CVDs.