. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Jan 1.

Published in final edited form as: Ann Biomed Eng. 2010 Sep 18;39(1):205–222. doi: 10.1007/s10439-010-0162-8

TABLE 1.

Eigenvalues and the respective eigenvectors for the pre-seeded PGA:PLLA scaffold as a function of increased sectioning spacing.

Virgin Spacing		Eigenvectors			Eigenvalues	α₁₃	α₁₂	α₂₃
Virgin Spacing		X	Y	Z	Eigenvalues	α₁₃	α₁₂	α₂₃
3 μm	e₁	−0.1574	−0.0048	0.9875	0.5310	0.6998	0.4170	0.4851
	e₂	0.9875	−0.0094	0.1573	0.3096
	e₃	−0.0085	−0.9999	−0.0062	0.1594
5 μm	e₁	−0.1548	−0.0669	0.9857	0.5204	0.7307	0.3477	0.5872
	e₂	0.9879	−0.0185	0.1539	0.3394
	e₃	−0.0080	−0.9976	−0.0690	0.1401
10 μm	e₁	−0.4274	−0.0450	0.9030	0.4688	0.6493	0.2176	0.5518
	e₂	0.9035	0.0137	0.4283	0.3668
	e₃	0.0316	−0.9989	−0.0348	0.1644
25 μm	e₁	−0.9274	−0.0177	0.3737	0.4665	0.6617	0.1945	0.5799
	e₂	−0.3673	−0.1475	−0.9183	0.3757
	e₃	−0.0714	0.9889	−0.1303	0.1578
50 μm	e₁	−0.1172	−0.1967	−0.9734	0.4546	0.7052	0.0953	0.6741
	e₂	0.9929	−0.0031	−0.1189	0.4113
	e₃	0.0204	−0.9805	0.1957	0.1340

As the sectioning spacing increases, the anisotropy present in the full-resolution data set is lost. With this, a sectioning spacing up to 10 μm can be tolerated without disrupting the measured scaffold orientation.