Fig. 3.

Examples of images (left) obtained from horse AC using FTIRI (A) of unstained sections and micro-CT following PTA (B) or PMA (C) labeling. The center column demonstrates the images after normalizing by AC thickness whereas the right hand column demonstrates the depth-wise image intensity profiles (horizontal average ± S.D.). The depth-wise contrast profile in the micro-CT image is in line with FTIRI profile; i.e., the very superficial AC and deep AC is rich in collagen compared to the middle AC. The FITRI sample (A) demonstrates a bright irregular area at the center of the region of interest due to a typical artifact seen when imaging tissue sections with FTIRI (the section is slightly detached from the glass slide). The analyses were restricted between the vertical blue lines. The micro-CT images presented here were acquired at 36 h.