TY - JOUR T1 - A massively multi-scale approach to characterising tissue architecture by synchrotron micro-CT applied to the human placenta JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/2020.12.07.411462 SP - 2020.12.07.411462 AU - W. M. Tun AU - G. Poologasundarampillai AU - H. Bischof AU - G. Nye AU - O. N. F. King AU - M. Basham AU - Y. Tokudome AU - R. M. Lewis AU - E. D. Johnstone AU - P. Brownbill AU - M. Darrow AU - I. L. Chernyavsky Y1 - 2021/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/04/06/2020.12.07.411462.abstract N2 - Multi-scale structural assessment of biological soft tissue is challenging but essential to gain insight into structure-function relationships of tissue/organ. Using the human placenta as an example, this study brings together sophisticated sample preparation protocols, advanced imaging, and robust, validated machine-learning segmentation techniques to provide the first massively multi-scale and multi-domain information that enables detailed morphological and functional analyses of both maternal and fetal placental domains. Finally, we quantify the scale-dependent error in morphological metrics of heterogeneous placental tissue, estimating the minimal tissue scale needed in extracting meaningful biological data. The developed protocol is beneficial for high-throughput investigation of structure-function relationships in both normal and diseased placentas, allowing us to optimise therapeutic approaches for pathological pregnancies. In addition, the methodology presented is applicable in characterisation of tissue architecture and physiological behaviours of other complex organs with similarity to the placenta, where an exchange barrier possesses circulating vascular and avascular fluid spaces.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest. ER -