Imaging intact human organs from the organ to the cellular scale in three dimensions is a goal of biomedical imaging. To meet this challenge, we developed hierarchical phase-contrast tomography (HiP-CT), an X-ray phase propagation technique using the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF)'s Extremely Brilliant Source (EBS). The spatial coherence of the ESRF-EBS combined with our beamline equipment, sample preparation and scanning developments enabled us to perform non-destructive, three-dimensional (3D) scans with hierarchically increasing resolution at any location in whole human organs. We applied HiP-CT to image five intact human organ types: brain, lung, heart, kidney and spleen. HiP-CT provided a structural overview of each whole organ followed by multiple higher-resolution volumes of interest, capturing organotypic functional units and certain individual specialized cells within intact human organs. We demonstrate the potential applications of HiP-CT through quantification and morphometry of glomeruli in an intact human kidney and identification of regional changes in the tissue architecture in a lung from a deceased donor with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
- Walsh, C. L.
- Tafforeau, P.
- Wagner, W. L.
- Jafree, D. J.
- Bellier, A.
- Werlein, C.
- Kühnel, M. P.
- Boller, E.
- Walker-Samuel, S.
- Robertus, J. L.
- Long, D. A.
- Jacob, J.
- Marussi, S.
- Brown, E.
- Holroyd, N.
- Jonigk, D. D.
- Ackermann, M.
- Lee, P. D.
