USAXS imaging used to study artificial tissue scaffolds. (General Developments).A team of NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. scientists previously developed a high-resolution (better than 1 [micro]m) synchrotron synchrotron: see particle accelerator. synchrotron Cyclic particle accelerator in which the particle is confined to its orbit by a magnetic field. The strength of the magnetic field increases as the particle's momentum increases. x-ray imaging technique whereby three-dimensional microstructures can be obtained using ultra-small-angle x-ray scattering (USAXS). This method uses a radically different, high-contrast mechanism that provides information that is unobtainable using conventional x-ray imaging techniques. Using the NIST USAXS instrument at the UNICAT beamline at the Advanced Photon Source The Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is a national synchrotron-radiation light source research facility funded by the United States Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. (Argonne National Laboratory Argonne National Laboratory, research center, based in Argonne, Ill., 27 mi (43 km) SW of downtown Chicago, with other facilities at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, 50 mi (80 km) W of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Founded in 1946 by the U.S. ), this new imaging technique has now been applied to the study of artificial biocompatible-polymer tissue scaffolds that hold great promise for growing artificial human tissues for implantation. Images were acquired while the samples were rotated in 0.5[degrees] increments, allowing detailed three-dimensional information to be obtained. The images clearly show the presence of both large connected cavities necessary for the transport of nutrients and wastes, and small crystallites on the surfaces of these cavities t hat can affect the growth of human cells. These same samples will also be imaged using complementary three-dimensional optical imaging techniques (optical coherence tomography Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an interferometric, non-invasive optical tomographic imaging technique offering millimeter penetration (approximately 2-3 mm in tissue) with micrometer-scale axial and lateral resolution. ) that were developed by NIST. CONTACT: Lyle Levine, (301) 975-6032; lyle.levine@nist.gov. |
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