Suitability of synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography for imaging of inner ear of harbor porpoise

Synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography is a non-invasive technique that allows high-resolution imaging of soft structures. We present the first results of the cochlea (inner ear) of a harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Samples were analyzed at a high spatial resolution using synchrotron-radiation propagation-based phase-contrast microtomography at the high-energy materials science beamline (HEMS) P07, operated by Hereon, at the storage ring PETRA III at DESY. Since these samples are larger than the x-ray beam profile, a scanning and projection-based stitching approach was employed. Stitching of the acquired raw data sets resulted in centimeter-sized reconstructions with 2.54μm voxel size and volumes ranging from 280GB to 5.2TB. Synchrotron-radiation phase-contrast tomography proved to be a suitable technique to image the spiral ganglion cells and other structures of the inner ear of a harbor porpoise.