Quantitative phase-contrast x-ray micro CT for visualization of mouse lymph nodes

Abstract

Previously, we designed a new quantitative phase-contrast setup for the microtomography experiments at the hereon beamlines P05 and P07 at PETRA III, DESY. This setup is based on Talbot array illuminators (TAI) as high visibility wavefront markers and can reach a spatial resolution level comparable to propagation-based imaging. In this work, we focus on the progress of bringing this setup into user operation. We collaborated with INI-Research to investigate the vascular system of mouse lymph nodes, exploiting the spatial resolution capabilities and using the quantitative aspect of the data to compare different sample preparation methods. We could successfully visualize and trace the blood supply of the lymph nodes, even with fine capillaries, showing the stability and performance of the setup in user application.