Role of Benchtop Microtomographic Systems in Tissue Engineering

Microtomographic system for laboratory (microCT) is a miniaturized form of the traditional computerized tomography. It allows for three-dimensional (3D) investigations of small radiopaque objects, with a high resolution of few micrometers, in a noninvasive and nondestructive way. Compared with the conventional electron microscopy techniques that produce only bidimensional images, the microCT is used to obtain a three-dimensional analysis of a sample with no need to cut and no need of particular surface treatments at all. Therefore, the microCT may satisfy the ideal requirements of 3D microscopy.