Innovative hierarchical X-ray imaging approach to assess the sequential evolution of multi-organ damage in multiple sclerosis

Abstract The 3D complexity of biological tissues and the intricate structural-functional connections call for modern X-ray imaging approaches to overcome the limitations of classical imaging. Unlike other imaging techniques, X-ray phase-contrast tomography (XPCT) offers an unprecedented hierarchical 3D imaging approach to investigate different disease-relevant networks at levels ranging from the single cell through to the intact organ as a whole. We study the evolution of tissue damage and inflammation in different organs affected by the disease in the murine model for multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating autoimmune disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). XPCT identifies and monitors structural and cellular alterations throughout the CNS, but also in the gut and eye, of mice induced to develop MS-like disease and sacrificed at pre-symptomatic and symptomatic time points. This study provides the sequential evolution of multi-organ damages in MS murine model showing the disease development and progression which is of obvious relevance for the human case.