Rats' gastric specimens characteristics in XILPCI projection images
In order to be identification of the purpose of the experiment, the XILPCI projection images of gastric specimens are shown in Fig. 1. Changes were observed at different weeks of age on the gastric images. Figure 1A demonstrates the characteristics of a 4-week-old young gastric normal specimen XILPCI image. The XILPCI image show that the gastric tissues are ordered and regular, and the gastric walls are smooth without any hyperplasia. The XILPCI image shows more detailed than the X-ray traditional image of a normal gastric specimen[8–12]. The absorption images of the stomach are very fuzzy and unclearly show the internal texture, and we only observe the overlapping walls of the stomach.
On XILPCI images, a 4-week-old image shows a uniform grey level, which indicates that the body of the 4-week-old gastric wall is as thick as the gastric fundus. It is obvious that the wrinkles of the fundus are abundant, and the fundus of the stomach is much thinner. In the middle of Fig. 1B and C, there is a demarcation line between the gastric body and the gastric fundus. Figure 1B demonstrates the characteristics of a 6-week-old adult gastric normal specimen XILPCI image. The gastric wrinkles are more extensive, but the wrinkles of the 6-week-old gastric fundus are fewer than the wrinkles of the 4-week-old gastric fundus. The XILPCI images show the grey of a 6-week-old gastric fundus is lighter than that of a 4-week-old fundus. The body of the 6-week-old stomach is thicker than the body of the 4-week-old stomach. The performance of XILPCI images is that the grey of a 6-week-old gastric body image is deeper than that of 4-week-old image. Figure 1C presents a 12-week-old normal gastric specimen XILPCI image, demonstrating the characteristics of mature gastric normal tissues. The wrinkles in the walls of the gastric body and duodenum are the most abundant.
CT images of the same rats' gastric specimens
The XILPCI 3-dimensional slices were rebuilt by means of a filter back projective algorithm. The details can be visualized inside the gastric tissue from Fig. 2.
The results are shown in Fig. 2 observed under the gross anatomy. The gastric inner surfaces clearly presented longitudinal branching wrinkle and gastric pits. The d, e and f parts of the gastric specimens in Fig. 2 were taken out and fixing in formalin solution. The d, e and f part of Fig. 2 could display the same shape as Fig. 3, but XILPCI images could not show the clear internal structure the same as Fig. 3. At present, the gold standard for diagnosis is still biopsy. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining process was as follows: these gastric specimens were dehydrated and dried, and then the d, e and f part of specimens were embedded in paraffin. Paraffin-embedded sections were made into pathological section and stained with HE to evaluate general morphology. In the body portion of the stomach after HE staining, the micrograph and macrograph showed a cross section of the gastric wall (Fig. 3). Similar to the other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, there are four layers of structure in the gastric wall, which are an outer mucosa, inner submucosa, muscular external layer, and serosa. During the growth and development of the rat, the fundus, formed by the upper curvature of the organ from the muscular external layer, is the thickest part at all three ages (Fig. 3d, e, f). There is an obvious line between the fundus and body of the stomach. There is a palpable mucosa layer, but there are also overt differences seen on HE staining, and we can see that the mucosa layer in the 4-week-old rats show more alkalinity than that in the 6- and 12-week-old rats, especially at 12 weeks (Fig. 3f). Figure 3d e and f can also observe line between the fundus and body of the stomach.
The results are shown in Fig. 2 observed under the gross anatomy. The gastric inner surfaces clearly presented longitudinal branching wrinkle and gastric pits. The d, e and f parts of the gastric specimens in Fig. 2 were taken out and fixing in formalin solution. The d, e and f part of Fig. 2 could display the same shape as Fig. 3, but XILPCI images could not show the clear internal structure the same as Fig. 3. At present, the gold standard for diagnosis is still biopsy. Hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining process was as follows: these gastric specimens were dehydrated and dried, and then the d, e and f part of specimens were embedded in paraffin. Paraffin-embedded sections were made into pathological section and stained with HE to evaluate general morphology. In the body portion of the stomach after HE staining, the micrograph and macrograph showed a cross section of the gastric wall (Fig. 3). Similar to the other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, there are four layers of structure in the gastric wall, which are an outer mucosa, inner submucosa, muscular external layer, and serosa. During the growth and development of the rat, the fundus, formed by the upper curvature of the organ from the muscular external layer, is the thickest part at all three ages (Fig. 3d, e, f). There is an obvious line between the fundus and body of the stomach. There is a palpable mucosa layer, but there are also overt differences seen on HE staining, and we can see that the mucosa layer in the 4-week-old rats show more alkalinity than that in the 6- and 12-week-old rats, especially at 12 weeks (Fig. 3f). Figure 3d e and f can also observe line between the fundus and body of the stomach.
Three-dimensional reconstruction images of the same rats' gastric specimens
In order to further reconfirm the advantage of the the XILPCI 3, were reconstructed 3-dimensional images of the different stages of the stomach as shown in Fig.. The XILPCI 3-dimensional images show a clear structure of the interior of the stomach (showed as video 1), and we can clearly see the villus of the fundus of the young rat stomach. There is a clear demarcation line between the fundus and the body of the stomach. The walls of the 12-week-old rat’s stomachs are thicker than those of the 4-week-old rat’s stomachs. The conclusion here shows that XILPCI has high anatomical accuracy to image stomachs. In addition, the thickness of the gastric wall at various stages was measured in Fig. 4 to compare the thickness of gastric specimens. As Fig. 5 shown, the results indicate that the average values of gastric wall at same stages are very similar, and the measurement of gastric wall by 3-dimensional images in Fig. 4 has certain reference significance. In Fig. 5, the thickness of 4-week-old gastric wall for the right panel is lower than that of the left panel, but the thickness of 6-week-old gastric wall is higher for the right panel because of the randomness of specimen selection and the existence of measurement error. The above results are appeared. But these results are also in line with the requirements of statistics and within a reasonable range.