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Micro‐Computed Tomography for Visualizing Limb Skeletal Regeneration in Young Xenopus Frogs
Author(s) -
Chen Ying,
Lin Gufa,
Chen Yungchung,
Fok Alex,
Slack Jonathan M.W.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the anatomical record: advances in integrative anatomy and evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.678
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1932-8494
pISSN - 1932-8486
DOI - 10.1002/ar.22496
Subject(s) - immunohistochemistry , regeneration (biology) , xenopus , cartilage , anatomy , vertebrate , computed tomography , biology , visualization , biomedical engineering , pathology , computer science , medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , radiology , artificial intelligence , biochemistry , gene
For studies of vertebrate limb regeneration it is often desirable to visualize the regenerated skeleton, which is mostly cartilage, and also section the specimen for histological or immunohistochemical visualization of other tissues. However, the normal skeletal staining techniques are incompatible with immunohistochemistry. Here, we describe a contrast‐based micro‐computed tomography (microCT) method for direct and nondestructive observation of regenerated cartilage spikes in Xenopu s frog limbs. In addition, we show that contrast based microCT imaging is compatible with immunohistochemistry protocols. This approach provides versatile and high contrast images of the cartilage allowing us to measure the regenerated skeletal structure in detail as well as carrying out the other types of analysis. It opens a wide range of potential microCT applications in research on vertebrate limb regeneration. Anat Rec, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.