Examination of the Mouse Embryo by Micro-CT

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  • HIRAIWA Noriko
    RIKEN BioResource Center, 3-1-1 Koyadai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan
  • ISHIMOTO Mutsumi
    MARS Tohken X-Ray Inspection Co. Ltd., 2-27-7 Tamagawa, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0025, Japan
  • YASUE Hiroshi
    Tsukuba Gene Technology Laboratories, 6-446 Arakawaoki, Tsuchiura, Ibaraki 300-0873, Japan MARS Tohken X-Ray Inspection Co. Ltd., 2-27-7 Tamagawa, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0025, Japan

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Abstract

Micro X-ray computed tomography (micro-CT) is widely used in preclinical studies of small animals. However, due to the low soft tissue contrast, segmentation of soft tissues in the micro-CT image is a challenging problem. To gain a better understanding of the macroscopic anatomy of the mouse embryo, 3 fixation methods and 3 metal stainings were examined for micro-CT using C57BL/6J mouse embryos in the present study. The examination demonstrated that 1% acetic acid/95% ethanol fixative together with zinc staining provided a high contrast micro-CT image, enabling the segmentation of soft tissues. Then, using this condition, the macroscopic embryo structure of the nude mouse was examined, revealing lack of a thymus. It appears that micro-CT with the fixation and staining condition devised in the present study could be a powerful tool in detecting the effects of various mutations at embryonic stages.

Journal

  • Experimental Animals

    Experimental Animals 62 (1), 57-61, 2013

    Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science

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