Bone imaging

Micro - CT imaging technology can measure X-ray absorption.This kind of phenomenon is very interesting in the bone, because a lot of calcium and mineral can make us more clearly observed bone structure.

Micro - CT is a kind of X-ray attenuation method, such as bones and teeth for hard mineralized tissue and provides condition of density, structure and form 3 d high resolution analysis.

Bone imaging is the most common application of micro - CT, and are often used to detect osteoporosis.However, the range of application of this technology is growing, it has been used to study the bone destruction model (fracture, arthritis, tumor), genetic screening or phenotype, bone, tissue engineering and drug treatment evaluation.

Because the histology has many advantages, such as high resolution, and selection of dyeing, so it is still a widely used bone analysis technology.However, it is very time consuming and can only provide 2 d information.Not only that, but it also has a destructive - which means that in preclinical studies, not on the same animal research for a long time, so it need a lot of animals for longitudinal study.

A micro - CT, these limitations can be broken.Each sample can be processed in one hour, and can provide the detailed condition for all parts of the animal 3 d bone structure information.Therefore, this technology can continue in vivo, which can obtain more powerful data and experimental needs less number of animals.

Application of micro - CT and clinical CT - same samples taken from various angles in the process of scanning X-ray or "projection" image, and then use the back projection algorithm for processing.The algorithm can combine all the information and get a set of cross-sectional images.Then, a 3 d rendering software package for the reconstruction of image processing, to create is used to measure the three-dimensional model of bone shape and density.

Bone is the most easy to X-ray imaging of biological tissue, because the calcified bone structure without any sample preparation, it can be observed easily.Therefore, bone imaging may have been in the field of life science first exclusive micro - CT applications.