Reduced volume of diabetic pancreatic islets in rodents detected by synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast microtomography and deep learning network. Issue 2 (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guo, Qingqing; AlKendi, Abdulla; Jiang, Xiaoping; Mittone, Alberto; Wang, Linbo; Larsson, Emanuel; Bravin, Alberto; Renström, Erik; Fang, Xianyong; Zhang, Enming
• Is Part Of: Heliyon. Volume 9:Issue 2(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: Diabetes -- Pancreatic islets -- X-ray microtomography -- Deep learning -- Synchrotron radiation -- X-ray phase-contrast; SRμCT synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast microtomography -- T1D type-1 diabetes -- T2D type-2 diabetes -- PCI phase contrast imaging -- AAM affinity-aware module -- SF Shortcut-Free -- AA-Net Affinity-Aware Network -- STZ streptozotocin; Research -- Periodicals; Medical sciences -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Periodicals; Earth sciences -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 507.2
• DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13081
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2405-8440

Abstract

Summary: The pancreatic islet is a highly structured micro-organ that produces insulin in response to rising blood glucose. Here we develop a label-free and automatic imaging approach to visualize the islets in situ in diabetic rodents by the synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast microtomography (SRμCT) at the ID17 station of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The large-size images (3.2 mm × 15.97 mm) were acquired in the pancreas in STZ-treated mice and diabetic GK rats. Each pancreas was dissected by 3000 reconstructed images. The image datasets were further analysed by a self-developed deep learning method, AA-Net. All islets in the pancreas were segmented and visualized by the three-dimension (3D) reconstruction. After quantifying the volumes of the islets, we found that the number of larger islets (=>1500 μm 3 ) was reduced by 2-fold (wt 1004 ± 94 vs GK 419 ± 122, P < 0.001) in chronically developed diabetic GK rat, while in STZ-treated diabetic mouse the large islets were decreased by half (189 ± 33 vs 90 ± 29, P < 0.001) compared to the untreated mice. Our study provides a label-free tool for detecting and quantifying pancreatic islets in situ . It implies the possibility of monitoring the state of pancreatic islets in vivo diabetes without labelling.