Advanced x-ray imaging techniques in tissue engineering: a new construct assessment platform for enabling the regeneration of personalised organs

DOI: 10.1117/12.2653075

Authors: Savvas N. Savvides (University College London) , Mattia F. Gerli (University College London) , Antonio Citro (IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute) , Lorenzo Massimi (University College London) , Charlotte K. Hagen (University College London) , Marco Endrizzi (University College London) , Alessia Atzeni (University College London) , Alberto Astolfo (University College London) , Michela Esposito (University College London) , Olumide K. Ogunbiyi (Great Ormond Street Hospital) , Mark Turmaine (University College London) , Elizabeth S. Smith , Silvia Cipiccia (Diamond Light Source; University of Strathclyde) , Christoph Rau (Diamond Light Source) , Peng Li (Diamond Light Source) , Roberto Lutman (University College London) , Giulia Selmin (University College London) , Natalie Durkin (University College London) , Soichi Shibuya (University College London) , Marianna Scuglia (University College London) , Marco Pellegrini (University College London) , Paolo De Coppi (University College London) , Alessandro Olivo (University College London)
Co-authored by industrial partner: No

Type: Conference Paper
Conference: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2023
Peer Reviewed: No

State: Published (Approved)
Published: April 2023

Abstract: Tissue engineering (TE) holds promise for generating lab-grown patient specific organs which can provide: (1) effective treatment for conditions that require volumetric tissue transplantation and (2) new platforms for drug testing. Even though volumetric structural information is essential for confirming successful organ maturation, TE protocol designs are currently informed through destructive and 2D construct assessment tools (e.g. histology). X-ray phase-contrast computed-tomography (PC-CT) can generate non-destructive, high resolution, 3D density maps of organ architecture. In this work, PC-CT is used as new imaging tool for guiding two TE protocols currently at the in-vitro testing stage. The first (1) involves cell-repopulation of an oesophageal scaffold, with the aim of using the regenerated construct for treating long-gap oesophageal atresia, whilst for the second (2) a lung-derived scaffold is populated with islets for regenerating a pancreas, with the “repurposed” lung offering a platform for diabetes drug testing. By combing 3D images and quantitative information, we were able to perform comprehensive construct evaluation. Specifically, we assessed volumetrically: (1) the cell-distribution within the regenerated oesophagi and (2) islet integration with the vascular tree of the lung-derived scaffold. This new information was proven to be essential for establishing corresponding TE protocols and enabled their progression to more advanced scale-up models. We are confident that PC-CT will provide the novel insights necessary to further progress TE protocols, with the next step being in-vivo testing. Crucially, the non-destructive nature of PC-CT will allow in-vivo assessments of TE constructs following their implantation into animal hosts, to investigate their successful integration.

Subject Areas: Biology and Bio-materials, Medicine


Instruments: I13-1-Coherence

Added On: 17/04/2023 09:46

Discipline Tags:

Life Sciences & Biotech

Technical Tags:

Imaging Phase Contrast Imaging Tomography