The Department of Orthopaedics of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine has micro-CT instruments, which can be used for micro-CT examination. Micro-CT is a microcomputer tomography technology, also known as micro-CT and micro-CT. It is a nondestructive 3D imaging technology, which can clearly understand the internal microstructure of the sample without destroying the sample.
The biggest difference between it and ordinary clinical CT is its extremely high resolution, which can reach micron (micron) level. At present, a domestic Micro-CT company has improved the resolution to 0.5μm, which has a good "microscopic" effect. Micro-CT can be used in medicine, pharmacy, biology, archaeology, materials, electronics, geology and other fields.
Application fields of microct:
1. Living body: The research object is usually small living animals such as mice, rats or rabbits, which are anesthetized or fixed and then scanned. It can realize the longitudinal study of physiological and metabolic functions and significantly reduce the number of animals needed for animal experiments. Similar to medical clinical CT, MicroCT of living small animals can also be used for respiratory gating and enhanced scanning (using contrast agent).
2. In vitro: The research object is usually the in vitro specimens (such as bones and teeth) or samples of various materials, and the internal structure and mechanical properties are analyzed. It is also possible to perfuse a living animal with a solidified contrast agent to perform fine imaging of the cardiovascular system, urinary system or digestive system.
3. Bone: It is one of the most important application fields of MicroCT, in which cancellous bone is the main research object. The changes of cancellous bone and cortical bone are related to osteoporosis, fracture, osteoarthritis, ischemia and hereditary diseases. At present, MicroCT technology has largely replaced the destructive histomorphology method.
4. Teeth and periodontal tissues. The changes of root canal morphology, dental caries destruction, tooth tissue density, alveolar bone structure and mechanical properties can be studied from the three-dimensional overall structure.
5. Biological materials. For example, the porosity, strength and other parameters of the bionic material scaffold prepared in vitro are analyzed to optimize the scaffold design; Scanning tissue samples to be replaced, obtaining three-dimensional images and outputting them as STL files for rapid prototyping (CAD/CAM) and so on.
6. Study on disease mechanism. For example, study the influence of different genes or signal pathways on the quantity or quality of bones, the influence of disease state on the development/repair of bones, evaluate the influence of hyperlipidemia on the calcification of heart valves, and the influence of cytokines on the growth of blood vessels in the process of tissue repair after fracture.
7. New drug development. For example, MicroCT has been called as an important pre-clinical detection technology, which is used to study new osteoporosis drugs and evaluate their efficacy.
8. others. Quality inspection and flaw detection of micro-devices, analysis of internal porosity, connectivity and permeability of building materials, identification of authenticity of jewelry, design of optimal cutting scheme, analysis of fossil structure, etc.