Dual-energy micro-CT for quantifying the time-course and staining characteristics of ex-vivo animal organs treated with iodine- and gadolinium-based contrast agents

Chemical staining of soft-tissues can be used as a strategy to increase their low inherent contrast in X-ray absorption micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), allowing to obtain fast three-dimensional structural information of animal organs. Though some staining agents are commonly used in this context, little is known about the staining agents’ ability to stain specific types of tissues; the times necessary to provide a sufficient contrast; and the effect of staining solution in distorting the tissue. Here we contribute to studies of animal organs (mouse heart and lungs) using staining combined with dual-energy micro-CT (DECT). DECT was used in order to obtain an additional quantitative measure for the amount of staining agents within the sample in 3D maps. Our results show that the two staining solutions used in this work diffuse differently in the tissues studied, the staining times of some tens of minutes already produce high-quality micro-CT images and, at the concentrations applied in this work, the staining solutions tested do not cause relevant tissue distortions. While one staining solution provides images of the general morphology of the organs, the other reveals organs’ features in the order of a hundred micrometers.