Understanding the angioarchitecture of the conduit vessels and of the microvascular bed is of paramount importance to understand the metabolic activity and function of the nervous system (Quintana et al. The central nervous system is essential for higher organisms and proper blood supply is critical for its functioning. The experimental approach presented here makes use of common desktop microCT scanners, rendering it a promising everyday tool for the evaluation of the (micro)vasculature of the central nervous system in preclinical and basic research. Moreover, the methodology introduced here permits correlative approaches, i.e., microangioCT followed by classical histology, immunohistochemistry and even electron microscopy. This permits in situ visualization and thus investigation of the dura mater and leptomeningeal layers as well as their blood supply in their original geometry.
The ♚ngiofil has an excellent filling capacity as well as a radio-opacity higher than the one of bone tissue, which allows imaging the cerebral microvasculature even within the intact skull or vertebral column. The datasets obtained empower a rather straightforward quantitative analysis of the vascular tree, including the microvasculature. ♚ngiofil, a polymer-based contrast agent, permits a qualitatively novel postmortem microangio-computed tomography (microangioCT) approach with excellent resolution and, therefore, visualization of the smallest brain capillaries. The removal procedure inevitably alters the in situ relations of the investigated structures and damages the dura mater and leptomeninges. Some ex vivo methods may provide better resolution, but are mainly destructive, as they are designed for imaging the CNS tissues after their removal from the skull or vertebral column. Most of the available in vivo imaging methods lack penetration depth and/or resolution. Analysis of the angioarchitecture and quantification of the conduit vessels and microvasculature is of paramount importance for understanding the physiological and pathological processes within the central nervous system (CNS).
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