Diffraction Enhanced X-ray Imaging for Observing Guinea Pig Cochlea

Diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) is a novel X-ray radiographic imaging method, which derives contrast from absorption, refraction, and extinction. With DEI technique, the spatial resolution of the acquired image can be increased 1000 times over conventional X-ray radiography. Therefore, it is suitable for the observation of biomedical micro-tissues and organs. This paper presents a new imaging method of minute biomedical organs based on DEI technique. In the investigation, the cochleae of guinea pigs were used as the samples. Before imaging, the cochleae of guinea pigs underwent different treatments, including fixation, decalcification, staining with silver nitrate solution, and reduction. Of them, the decalcification of cochleae is very important for improving the imaging quality. Compared with the conventional radiography image much higher contrast is achieved in the obtained DEI images. The fine spiral structure and inner details of the cochlea can be displayed clearly. The results show that compared with the conventional X-ray radiography, DEI is a more effective way of observing the guinea pig cochlear microstructures and other minute biomedical organs, and a potential tool for diagnosing cochlear diseases and morphologic study