Reduced volume of diabetic pancreatic islets in rodents detected by synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast microtomography and deep learning network
Qingqing Guo,
Abdulla AlKendi,
Xiaoping Jiang,
Alberto Mittone,
Linbo Wang,
Emanuel Larsson,
Alberto Bravin,
Erik Renström,
Xianyong Fang,
Enming Zhang
Affiliations
Qingqing Guo
School of Computer Science and Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China; Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden
Abdulla AlKendi
Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden
Xiaoping Jiang
Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden; School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
Alberto Mittone
Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, United States; Biomedical Beamline ID17, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble Cedex, France
Linbo Wang
School of Computer Science and Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China
Emanuel Larsson
Division of Solid Mechanics & LUNARC, Department of Construction Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Alberto Bravin
Biomedical Beamline ID17, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble Cedex, France; Department of Physics, University Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Department of Physics, Università della Calabria, Rende, Italy
Erik Renström
Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden
Xianyong Fang
School of Computer Science and Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, China; Corresponding author.
Enming Zhang
Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden; NanoLund, Lund University, Box 118, 22100, Lund, Sweden; Corresponding author. Islet Pathophysiology, Department of Clinical Science, Lund University Diabetes Centre, Malmö, Sweden.
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 μm3) 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.
