eprintid: 10191825 rev_number: 6 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/19/18/25 datestamp: 2024-05-09 07:15:11 lastmod: 2024-05-09 07:15:11 status_changed: 2024-05-09 07:15:11 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Xian, R Patrick creators_name: Brunet, Joseph creators_name: Huang, Yuze creators_name: Wagner, Willi L creators_name: Lee, Peter D creators_name: Tafforeau, Paul creators_name: Walsh, Claire L title: A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging ispublished: pub divisions: UCL divisions: B04 divisions: C05 divisions: F45 keywords: bubble growth, gas chromatography, synchrotron X-rays, vacuum degassing note: This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. abstract: Improving the scalability of tissue imaging throughput with bright, coherent X-rays requires identifying and mitigating artifacts resulting from the interactions between X-rays and matter. At synchrotron sources, long-term imaging of soft tissues in solution can result in gas bubble formation or cavitation, which dramatically compromises image quality and integrity of the samples. By combining in-line phase-contrast imaging with gas chromatography in real time, we were able to track the onset and evolution of high-energy X-ray-induced gas bubbles in ethanol-embedded soft tissue samples for tens of minutes (two to three times the typical scan times). We demonstrate quantitatively that vacuum degassing of the sample during preparation can significantly delay bubble formation, offering up to a twofold improvement in dose tolerance, depending on the tissue type. However, once nucleated, bubble growth is faster in degassed than undegassed samples, indicating their distinct metastable states at bubble onset. Gas chromatography analysis shows increased solvent vaporization concurrent with bubble formation, yet the quantities of dissolved gasses remain unchanged. By coupling features extracted from the radiographs with computational analysis of bubble characteristics, we uncover dose-controlled kinetics and nucleation site-specific growth. These hallmark signatures provide quantitative constraints on the driving mechanisms of bubble formation and growth. Overall, the observations highlight bubble formation as a critical yet often overlooked hurdle in upscaling X-ray imaging for biological tissues and soft materials and we offer an empirical foundation for their understanding and imaging protocol optimization. More importantly, our approaches establish a top-down scheme to decipher the complex, multiscale radiation-matter interactions in these applications. date: 2024-05-01 date_type: published publisher: International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1107/s160057752400290x oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 2271880 doi: 10.1107/S160057752400290X medium: Print-Electronic pii: S160057752400290X lyricists_name: Lee, Peter lyricists_name: Walsh, Claire lyricists_name: Brunet, Joseph lyricists_id: PLEEX57 lyricists_id: WALSH33 lyricists_id: JBRUN89 actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette actors_id: BFFLY94 actors_role: owner funding_acknowledgements: MR/R025673/1 [Medical Research Council] full_text_status: public publication: Journal of Synchrotron Radiation volume: 31 number: 3 pagerange: 566-577 event_location: United States issn: 0909-0495 citation: Xian, R Patrick; Brunet, Joseph; Huang, Yuze; Wagner, Willi L; Lee, Peter D; Tafforeau, Paul; Walsh, Claire L; (2024) A closer look at high-energy X-ray-induced bubble formation during soft tissue imaging. Journal of Synchrotron Radiation , 31 (3) pp. 566-577. 10.1107/S160057752400290X <https://doi.org/10.1107/S160057752400290X>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10191825/1/ing5001.pdf