ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Ocean Observation
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1542703
Evaluation of Photon-Counting Micro-CT Scanning for Imaging Marine Organisms
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- 2Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan Province, China
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Anatomical information is crucial in marine biology research. Traditionally, destructive techniques, such as slice imaging of the sample, are used to image the inside of the sample, which are unsuitable for valuable or rare specimens. While energy-integrating detectors computed tomography (CT) can provide non-invasive anatomical information, it suffers from limitations such as low spatial resolution, high noise, and an inability to analyze material composition. Photon-counting (PC) micro-CT offers a promising alternative, enabling non-invasive imaging of both internal and external structures of marine organisms. Various species, including bivalves, conchs, and fish otoliths, were scanned using this advanced technology. The influence of different tube voltages on image quality is analyzed in this paper.One of the key capabilities of PC micro-CT is the reconstruction of virtual monoenergetic images and material decomposition, which has been tested. To further enhance soft tissue visualization, iodixanol solution was employed for contrast imaging. PC micro-CT provides high resolution both in noncontrast images and iodixanol-contrast images which digestive tracts and glands can be seen. Material decomposition of fish otoliths revealed the characteristic wheel-shaped distribution of calcium content.PC micro-CT has the potential ability for imaging marine organisms and promising future in broader utilization in marine biological research.
Keywords: Photon-counting detector CT1, Micro-computed tomography2, Spectral CT imaging3, Material decomposition4, Image quality5, Bivalve6
Received: 10 Dec 2024; Accepted: 19 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Mengjia, Liu and Xie. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tianwu Xie, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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