A comparison of synchrotron X-ray phase contrast tomography and holotomography for non-invasive investigations of the internal anatomy of mites

Abstract

Synchrotron X-ray tomography is a powerful tool for non-invasive studies of the internal anatomy of microarthropods. The invention of phase contrast imaging (PCT) enables the visualisation of biological tissues with a small range of attenuation coefficients. Quantitative phase tomography (holotomography; HT) is an advancement of PCT and improves the imaging quality of materials with even smaller differences in attenuation coefficients. In this study, HT was used for the first time to investigate the internal anatomy of microarthropods. Both techniques, HT and PCT, are compared with respect to their ability to differentiate between soft tissues with low attenuation coefficients of the oribatid mite Archegozetes longisetosus (Acari, Oribatida). HT has a higher signal-to-noise ratio and a broader grey value distribution and resolves slight variations in soft tissues much better than PCT