Suitability of synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography for imaging of inner ear of harbor porpoise

Abstract

Synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography is a non-destructive technique that allows high-resolution imaging of soft structures. We present the first results of the cochlea (inner ear) of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Samples were analyzed at a high spatial resolution using synchrotron-radiation propagation-based phase-contrast microtomography at the high-energy materials science beamline (HEMS) P07, operated by Hereon, at the storage ring PETRA III at DESY. Since these samples are larger than the X-ray beam profile, a scanning and projection-based stitching approach was used. Stitching of the acquired raw data sets resulted in centimetersized reconstructions with 2.54 µm voxel size and volumes ranging from 280 GB to 5.2 TB. Synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography proved to be a suitable technique to image the spiral ganglion cells and other structures of the inner ear of a harbor porpoise.