Advanced x-ray imaging techniques in tissue engineering: a new construct assessment platform for enabling the regeneration of personalised organs

Savvas Savvidis; Mattia F. M. Gerli; Antonio Citro; Lorenzo Massimi; Charlotte K. Hagen; Marco Endrizzi; Alessia Atzeni; Alberto Astolfo; Michela Esposito; Olumide K. Ogunbiyi; Mark Turmaine; Elizabeth S. Smith; Silvia Cipiccia; Christoph Rau; Peng Li; Roberto Lutman; Giulia Selmin; Natalie Durkin; Soichi Shibuya; Marianna Scuglia; Marco Pellegrini; Paolo De Coppi; Alessandro Olivo

doi:10.1117/12.2653075

10 April 2023 Advanced x-ray imaging techniques in tissue engineering: a new construct assessment platform for enabling the regeneration of personalised organs

Savvas Savvidis, Mattia F. M. Gerli, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Massimi, Charlotte K. Hagen, Marco Endrizzi, Alessia Atzeni, Alberto Astolfo, Michela Esposito, Olumide K. Ogunbiyi, Mark Turmaine, Elizabeth S. Smith, Silvia Cipiccia, Christoph Rau, Peng Li, Roberto Lutman, Giulia Selmin, Natalie Durkin, Soichi Shibuya, Marianna Scuglia, Marco Pellegrini, Paolo De Coppi, Alessandro Olivo

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12468, Medical Imaging 2023: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging; 124680R (2023) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2653075
Event: SPIE Medical Imaging, 2023, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Tissue engineering (TE) holds promise for generating lab-grown patient specific organs which can provide: (1) effective treatment for conditions that require volumetric tissue transplantation and (2) new platforms for drug testing. Even though volumetric structural information is essential for confirming successful organ maturation, TE protocol designs are currently informed through destructive and 2D construct assessment tools (e.g. histology). X-ray phase-contrast computed-tomography (PC-CT) can generate non-destructive, high resolution, 3D density maps of organ architecture. In this work, PC-CT is used as new imaging tool for guiding two TE protocols currently at the in-vitro testing stage. The first (1) involves cell-repopulation of an oesophageal scaffold, with the aim of using the regenerated construct for treating long-gap oesophageal atresia, whilst for the second (2) a lung-derived scaffold is populated with islets for regenerating a pancreas, with the “repurposed” lung offering a platform for diabetes drug testing. By combing 3D images and quantitative information, we were able to perform comprehensive construct evaluation. Specifically, we assessed volumetrically: (1) the cell-distribution within the regenerated oesophagi and (2) islet integration with the vascular tree of the lung-derived scaffold. This new information was proven to be essential for establishing corresponding TE protocols and enabled their progression to more advanced scale-up models. We are confident that PC-CT will provide the novel insights necessary to further progress TE protocols, with the next step being in-vivo testing. Crucially, the non-destructive nature of PC-CT will allow in-vivo assessments of TE constructs following their implantation into animal hosts, to investigate their successful integration.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Savvas Savvidis, Mattia F. M. Gerli, Antonio Citro, Lorenzo Massimi, Charlotte K. Hagen, Marco Endrizzi, Alessia Atzeni, Alberto Astolfo, Michela Esposito, Olumide K. Ogunbiyi, Mark Turmaine, Elizabeth S. Smith, Silvia Cipiccia, Christoph Rau, Peng Li, Roberto Lutman, Giulia Selmin, Natalie Durkin, Soichi Shibuya, Marianna Scuglia, Marco Pellegrini, Paolo De Coppi, and Alessandro Olivo "Advanced x-ray imaging techniques in tissue engineering: a new construct assessment platform for enabling the regeneration of personalised organs", Proc. SPIE 12468, Medical Imaging 2023: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging, 124680R (10 April 2023); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2653075

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