Time-lapse X-ray phase-contrast microtomography for in vivo imaging and analysis of morphogenesis

X-ray phase-contrast microtomography (XPCμT) is a label-free, high-resolution imaging modality for analyzing early development of vertebrate embryos in vivo by using time-lapse sequences of 3D volumes. Here we provide a detailed protocol for applying this technique to study gastrulation in Xenopus l...

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Hauptverfasser: Moosmann, Julian (VerfasserIn) , Ershov, Alexey (VerfasserIn) , Weinhardt, Venera (VerfasserIn) , Baumbach, Tilo (VerfasserIn) , Prasad, Maneeshi S. (VerfasserIn) , LaBonne, Carole (VerfasserIn) , Xiao, Xianghui (VerfasserIn) , Kashef, Jubin (VerfasserIn) , Hofmann, Ralf (VerfasserIn)
Dokumenttyp: Article (Journal)
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: 09 January 2014
In: Nature protocols
Year: 2014, Jahrgang: 9, Heft: 2, Pages: 294-304
ISSN:1750-2799
DOI:10.1038/nprot.2014.033
Online-Zugang:Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2014.033
Verlag, lizenzpflichtig, Volltext: https://www.nature.com/articles/nprot.2014.033
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Verfasserangaben:Julian Moosmann, Alexey Ershov, Venera Weinhardt, Tilo Baumbach, Maneeshi S. Prasad, Carole LaBonne, Xianghui Xiao, Jubin Kashef & Ralf Hofmann
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:X-ray phase-contrast microtomography (XPCμT) is a label-free, high-resolution imaging modality for analyzing early development of vertebrate embryos in vivo by using time-lapse sequences of 3D volumes. Here we provide a detailed protocol for applying this technique to study gastrulation in Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) embryos. In contrast to μMRI, XPCμT images optically opaque embryos with subminute temporal and micrometer-range spatial resolution. We describe sample preparation, culture and suspension of embryos, tomographic imaging with a typical duration of 2 h (gastrulation and neurulation stages), intricacies of image pre-processing, phase retrieval, tomographic reconstruction, segmentation and motion analysis. Moreover, we briefly discuss our present understanding of X-ray dose effects (heat load and radiolysis), and we outline how to optimize the experimental configuration with respect to X-ray energy, photon flux density, sample-detector distance, exposure time per tomographic projection, numbers of projections and time-lapse intervals. The protocol requires an interdisciplinary effort of developmental biologists for sample preparation and data interpretation, X-ray physicists for planning and performing the experiment and applied mathematicians/computer scientists/physicists for data processing and analysis. Sample preparation requires 9-48 h, depending on the stage of development to be studied. Data acquisition takes 2-3 h per tomographic time-lapse sequence. Data processing and analysis requires a further 2 weeks, depending on the availability of computing power and the amount of detail required to address a given scientific problem.
Beschreibung:Gesehen am 09.10.2020
Beschreibung:Online Resource
ISSN:1750-2799
DOI:10.1038/nprot.2014.033