2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

4D imaging of bio-soft material deformation based on phase-contrast CT using synchrotron light

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	18K19926
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 90:Biomedical engineering and related fields
Research Institution	The University of Tokushima
Principal Investigator	MATSUMOTO Takeshi 徳島大学, 大学院社会産業理工学研究部(理工学域), 教授 (30249560)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	大澤恭子近畿大学, 生物理工学部, 助教 (30638193) 長谷栄治徳島大学, ポストLEDフォトニクス研究所, 特任助教 (50805512)
Project Period (FY)	2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
Keywords	生体軟組織 / 粘弾性 / 位相CT / 動的変形 / 線維構造
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Flexible response of soft biological tissues, such as blood vessels, muscle, and articular cartilage, to mechanical loading is largely attributed to their viscoelastic properties; thus, dynamic tests are essential to better understanding of mechanical functions of these soft tissues. Besides, the inhomogeneous tissue structures and the potential of micro-damage for catastrophic diseases indicate the importance of assessing regional dynamical tissue behaviors. In this study, we established the X-ray phase-contrast CT for quantitative imaging of cyclically deformed soft tissues. Applications of the present method to the porcine articular cartilage plug and canine femoral arterial segment subjected to cyclic loading and pulsatile pressure, respectively, showed its ability to visualize the time-to-time variations of regional fiber architecture in these tissues, and accordingly, its availability for the evaluation of regional dynamic deformation in bio-soft materials.
Free Research Field	生体医工学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	大動脈の解離や瘤の形成・破裂，軟骨の欠落・剥離など，生体軟組織の機能破綻には日常の力学的な負荷（血圧や運動時の衝撃など）に対する軟組織の変形機能が深く関わっている．重篤な病態の発症に先行する組織内の局所的な変形機能の異常とこれを起点とする発症メカニズムを明らかにすることは，QOLを脅かす病態の進行予測や発症の予防に役立つ．本研究で確立した手法による軟組織挙動の計測によって，軟組織疾患の発症メカニズムの解明に資する意義のある情報の提供が期待できる．