Ctvox volume rendering software

Micro CT images of the brains were obtained using a SkyScan 1272 (in the Optical and Intravital Microscopy core at BCM) or with a SkyScan 1276 (at Bruker Biospin, Billerica, MA). The brains scanned at BCM (Figs 5, 6, 7) were wrapped in Saran Wrap to reduce sample dehydration and placed in a modified Styrofoam holder for imaging. Scans were performed with the following parameters: source voltage and current (60 kV and 166 μA), imaging voxel size was 6.6 to 6.8 μm with 0.25 μm Al filter. The distance of X-ray to object was set to 199.98 mm. The brains scanned at Bruker BioSpin (Fig 8) were prepared by embedding the isolated brains in low melt agarose (1%) in dH₂O in a 5 mL plastic vial (ST-5ML, Axygen Scientific) as an alternative method to reduce tissue dehydration during acquisition. This alternative approach was adopted to reduce imaging artifact due to the slight sample dehydration that occurred with Saran Wrap samples. The following scan parameters were used: source and current (55kV and 200 uA), imaging voxel size was 6.8 μm with 0.25 μm Al filter. The distance of X-ray to object was set to 157.29 mm. Acquired images were reconstructed by NRecon Reconstruction software (Bruker MicroCT, Kontich, Belgium) and then rendered into 3D images in CTvox volume rendering software (Bruker MicroCT, Kontich, Belgium).