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High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing

High-resolution X-ray microcomputed tomography, or microCT (μCT), enables the digital imaging of whole objects in three dimensions. The power of μCT to visualize internal features without disarticulation makes it particularly valuable for the study of museum collections, which house millions of phys...

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Autores principales: Hipsley, Christy A., Aguilar, Rocio, Black, Jay R., Hocknull, Scott A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32807929
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70970-7
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author Hipsley, Christy A.
Aguilar, Rocio
Black, Jay R.
Hocknull, Scott A.
author_facet Hipsley, Christy A.
Aguilar, Rocio
Black, Jay R.
Hocknull, Scott A.
author_sort Hipsley, Christy A.
collection PubMed
description High-resolution X-ray microcomputed tomography, or microCT (μCT), enables the digital imaging of whole objects in three dimensions. The power of μCT to visualize internal features without disarticulation makes it particularly valuable for the study of museum collections, which house millions of physical specimens documenting the spatio-temporal patterns of life. Despite the potential for comparative analyses, most μCT studies include limited numbers of museum specimens, due to the challenges of digitizing numerous individuals within a project scope. Here we describe a method for high-throughput μCT scanning of hundreds of small (< 2 cm) specimens in a single container, followed by individual labelling and archival storage. We also explore the effects of various packing materials and multiple specimens per capsule to minimize sample movement that can degrade image quality, and hence μCT investment. We demonstrate this protocol on vertebrate fossils from Queensland Museum, Australia, as part of an effort to track community responses to climate change over evolutionary time. This system can be easily modified for other types of wet and dry material amenable to X-ray attenuation, including geological, botanical and zoological samples, providing greater access to large-scale phenotypic data and adding value to global collections.
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spelling pubmed-74315922020-08-18 High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing Hipsley, Christy A. Aguilar, Rocio Black, Jay R. Hocknull, Scott A. Sci Rep Article High-resolution X-ray microcomputed tomography, or microCT (μCT), enables the digital imaging of whole objects in three dimensions. The power of μCT to visualize internal features without disarticulation makes it particularly valuable for the study of museum collections, which house millions of physical specimens documenting the spatio-temporal patterns of life. Despite the potential for comparative analyses, most μCT studies include limited numbers of museum specimens, due to the challenges of digitizing numerous individuals within a project scope. Here we describe a method for high-throughput μCT scanning of hundreds of small (< 2 cm) specimens in a single container, followed by individual labelling and archival storage. We also explore the effects of various packing materials and multiple specimens per capsule to minimize sample movement that can degrade image quality, and hence μCT investment. We demonstrate this protocol on vertebrate fossils from Queensland Museum, Australia, as part of an effort to track community responses to climate change over evolutionary time. This system can be easily modified for other types of wet and dry material amenable to X-ray attenuation, including geological, botanical and zoological samples, providing greater access to large-scale phenotypic data and adding value to global collections. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC7431592/ /pubmed/32807929 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70970-7 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open AccessThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Hipsley, Christy A.
Aguilar, Rocio
Black, Jay R.
Hocknull, Scott A.
High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title_full High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title_fullStr High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title_full_unstemmed High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title_short High-throughput microCT scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
title_sort high-throughput microct scanning of small specimens: preparation, packing, parameters and post-processing
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7431592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32807929
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70970-7
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