A new bone vascular perfusion compound for the simultaneous analysis of bone and vasculature |
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Authors: | Krista L. Sider Janice Song John E. Davies |
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Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G9, Canada;2. Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1G6, Canada |
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Abstract: | Bone is a highly vascular tissue, which plays an important role in bone development and healing. The ability to analyze both the bone and vasculature simultaneously can enhance the understanding of wound healing, development, and disease in bone. At present, analysis methods are limited in their ability to allow for this simultaneous analysis of bone and bone vasculature in three dimensions, without using the most recent dual‐energy computed tomography (CT) techniques. In this study, we present a new barium sulfate (BaSO4) radiopaque vascular perfusion compound for performing postmortem microangiography with single‐beam microcomputed tomography (microCT), which allows for such simultaneous analysis. This compound differs from currently available contrast mediums due to (1) the high weight‐to‐volume ratio of BaSO4 achieved, (2) small BaSO4 aggregate size (<5 μm), (3) minimal additives, and (4) its miscibility with blood and saline. Most notably, it achieves a radiodensity of 2.4× that of cortical bone, with high perfusion of both the arterial and venous systems and the intervening capillary bed, resulting in an in vivo radiodensity that ranges from that of bone to titanium. Our results, verified using a rat femoral gap‐healing model, show that the compound is uniquely suited to high‐contrast imaging of the vasculature in the presence of undecalcified bone, with a versatility to be used in other tissues. Microsc. Res. Tech., 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. |
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Keywords: | barium sulfate blood vessels rat femur imaging microCT contrast agent |
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