Coherent x-ray imaging of collagen fibril distributions within intact tendons

Felisa Berenguer; Richard J Bean; Laurent Bozec; Joan Vila-Comamala; Fucai Zhang; Cameron M Kewish; Oliver Bunk; John M Rodenburg; Ian K Robinson

doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2013.12.016

Coherent x-ray imaging of collagen fibril distributions within intact tendons

Biophys J. 2014 Jan 21;106(2):459-66. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2013.12.016.

Authors

Felisa Berenguer¹, Richard J Bean², Laurent Bozec³, Joan Vila-Comamala⁴, Fucai Zhang⁵, Cameron M Kewish⁴, Oliver Bunk⁴, John M Rodenburg⁶, Ian K Robinson⁷

Affiliations

¹ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: felisa.berenguer@synchrotron-soleil.fr.
² London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
³ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Eastman Dental Institute, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
⁴ Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen, Switzerland.
⁵ Department of Electronic and Electric Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
⁶ Department of Electronic and Electric Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom; Research Complex at Harwell, Harwell Oxford Campus, Didcot, United Kingdom.
⁷ London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Research Complex at Harwell, Harwell Oxford Campus, Didcot, United Kingdom.

Abstract

The characterization of the structure of highly hierarchical biosamples such as collagen-based tissues at the scale of tens of nanometers is essential to correlate the tissue structure with its growth processes. Coherent x-ray Bragg ptychography is an innovative imaging technique that gives high resolution images of the ordered parts of such samples. Herein, we report how we used this method to image the collagen fibrillar ultrastructure of intact rat tail tendons. The images show ordered fibrils extending over 10-20 μm in length, with a quantifiable D-banding spacing variation of 0.2%. Occasional defects in the fibrils distribution have also been observed, likely indicating fibrillar fusion events.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Animals
Fibrillar Collagens / metabolism*
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Molecular Imaging / methods*
Rats
Tendons / metabolism*
X-Ray Diffraction
X-Rays

Substances

Fibrillar Collagens