Fig. 4.

Emerging techniques for enhancing contrast in soft tissues. a Gold nanoparticle labelling; 3D segmented image showing clusters of gold nanoparticle labelled cells within a mouse (cells are yellow, circled with red dotted line) [59]. b Water window imaging showing a soft nCT section through a diploid yeast cell, the reconstructed CT volume alongside 3D representations of individual organelles and the composite image overlaying all organelles, reproduced with permission from [60]. c Correlative water window imaging with cryo-fluorescent microscopy; reconstructed soft X-ray tomograph of a mouse lymphoblastoid cell and overlaid cryo-fluorescence, soft X-ray tomograph alone and an expanded 3D segmented view of a mitochondrion and endoplasmic reticulum from within the cell [61]. d Dual energy CT; feline skin double stained with phosphotungstic acid, which preferentially stains collagen and other connective tissue (corium), and iodine potassium iodide, which stains adipose tissue (subcutaneous fat), imaged at (left) 40 kV and (middle) 80 kV, the former being more sensitive to PTA, (right) decomposition of the two contributions (right) to show adipose (yellow) and collagenous (pink) tissues, reproduced with permission from [62] Image in a reprinted from [59], Nanomedicine, 10(8), Astolfo A, Qie F, Kibleur A, Hao X, Menk RH, Arfelli F, et al. A simple way to track single gold-loaded alginate microcapsules using x-ray CT in small animal longitudinal studies, p.1821–8, 2014, with permission from Elsevier. Image in c reproduced with permission from [61], Journal of Cell Science: Elgass KD, Smith EA, LeGros MA, Larabell CA, Ryan MT. J Cell Sci, 2015;128(15):2795–804