X-ray micro-CT for morphology analysis of ant’s head

D Marcos^1,2, P Gómez del Campo^1,5, S Arganda³, J Montero³, A Belarra^1,5, T Alieva⁴ and M Chevalier^1,5
1Unidad de Física Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Plaza de Ramón y Cajal S/N, Spain
²Grupo de Ingeniería Biomédica, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
³Departamento de Biología y Geología, Física y Química Inorgánica, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain.
⁴Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda. Complutense S/N, Spain
⁵Laboratorio de Micro-CT-UCM, Spain
Dedicated to Prof Jay M Enoch

Micro-computed X ray tomography is a useful tool for the analysis of internal structure of small animals, including insects. Here, we evaluate the conditions which are optimal for the study of ant´s head morphology by using microfocus X-ray laboratory setup. We demonstrate that it is possible to clearly observe the 3D structure of the ant’s head, such as muscles, scalps or antennas, with micrometric resolution. However, fine information about the internal structure (brain), even using staining, is very difficult to obtain using the polychromatic X ray source applied in this study. Segmentation methods allow to extract only global characteristics of the brain: Identifying its volume, brain lobes, oesophagus, pedunculae and subesophageal zone. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Electromagnetic radiation, Propagation, Photons, Eye vision mechanism

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Method: Single- anonymous; Screened for Plagiarism? Yes
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