Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is an X-ray imaging technique used for high resolution, nondestructive assessment of materials including musculoskeletal tissues and engineered biomaterials. Research applications include fracture healing, skeletal phenotyping, segmental bone defect repair, age-related effects on bone, joint degeneration, vascular remodeling, developmental biology, and microstructure of materials.
The micro-CT lab is home to four micro-CT systems and a cluster of workstations to perform scanner operations, image reconstruction and quantitative analysis, and 3D visualization. There are two live animal scanners. The Scanco vivaCT 40, has a maximum field of view (FOV) of 38mm diameter and is capable of imaging live rodents and ex vivo specimens at 10-38um voxel resolutions. The Siemens Inveon has maximum FOV of 10cm and is capable of imaging live animals and specimens at 20-100um voxel resolutions. Additionally, there are two specimen only scanners. The Scanco uCT 40 has maximum FOV 36mm and is capable of voxel resolutions between 6 and 38um. The Scanco uCT 50 has maximum FOV 50mm and is capable of voxel resolutions between 0.5 and 50um.
The power of these systems lies in the ability for users to extract quantitative morphometric and density data along with 3D models of their specimens. Some of the applications areas that have been impacted include assessing bone regeneration in large bone defects in vivo, quantifying trabecular bone microdamage, assessing bone repair in fracture healing models, and in vitro cell-mediated mineral growth on scaffolds. Though the systems were originally designed to measure hard tissues such as bone, the technology can also be used in conjunction with contrast agents in applications such as measuring degradative changes in articular cartilage and analyzing vascular remodeling after injury.