Finite element 3D reconstruction of the pulmonary acinus imaged by synchrotron X-ray tomography

Abstract

The alveolated structure of the pulmonary acinus plays a vital role in gas exchange function. Three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the parenchymal region is fundamental to understanding this structure-function relationship, but only a limited number of attempts have been conducted in the past because of technical limitations. In this study, we developed a new image processing methodology based on finite element (FE) analysis for accurate 3D structural reconstruction of the gas exchange regions of the lung. Stereologically well characterized rat lung samples ( Pediatr Res 53: 72–80, 2003) were imaged using high-resolution synchrotron radiation-based X-ray tomographic microscopy. A stack of 1,024 images (each slice: 1024 × 1024 pixels) with resolution of 1.4 μm3 per voxel were generated. For the development of FE algorithm, regions of interest (ROI), containing ∼7.5 million voxels, were further extracted as a working subunit. 3D FEs were created overlaying the voxel map using a grid-based hexahedral algorithm. A proper threshold value for appropriate segmentation was iteratively determined to match the calculated volume density of tissue to the stereologically determined value ( Pediatr Res 53: 72–80, 2003). The resulting 3D FEs are ready to be used for 3D structural analysis as well as for subsequent FE computational analyses like fluid dynamics and skeletonization.