[Histonet] Xray contrast

[Gayle Callis]

Coral,

You need to calibrate your FAXITRON with a normal mouse femur and tibia for 
the film you are using.  We used Kodak XOMAT TL, self enclosed film which 
may not be available now.  Linda Jenkins liked Kodak MIN R 2000 mammography 
film.

It is a good idea to have a dried bone (even from a 42 day old mouse) 
sitting around for posterity sake and further calibration when needed.  When 
we did xray endpoint checks, we only exposed these very tiny bones for 10 
seconds or less, with bone on lower shelf. Sometimes no more than an on/off 
working of the exposure.   Mouse bones, and especially young mice may not 
have as much calcification or thin areas of calcification, so that your 
"burn" in the bone too much i.e. overexpose the bone. We did our radiography 
manually.  With 30 sec at 30 kvp, you are probably over-exposing the bone, 
and not able to see any tiny calcifications remaining in the bone.   You can 
also use less kvp for these tiny bones and inversely, use much higher kvp 
for whole sheep knees (with longer times too).

Be sure to examine your developed radiographs in a darkened room, with a 
magnifying glass to look for any tiny calcifications in the bone near 
endpoint.  Also, if you have a mini CT scanner available, that is an 
excellent device for doing endpoint checks.

Gayle M. Callis
HT/HTL/MT(ASCP)
Bozeman MT 59715


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dickey, Coral" <cad <@t> Stowers-Institute.org>
To: <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 1:24 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Xray contrast



Hello in Histoland,

I am trying to track the decalcification of some 42 day old mouse humeri and 
femurs by xray. They have been in 10% EDTA for 36hrs and I just took a film 
on KODAK BioMax MS film on a Faxitron xray machine. The bones were exposed 
for 30 sec at 30kvp. I would like to increase the contrast on the picture. 
Does anyone know how to do this.

Thanks in advance.

Coral Dickey
Histology Specialist I

Stowers Institute for Medical Research
1000 E. 50th Street
Kansas City,  Missouri  64110
Phone:  816-926-4305
e-mail:  cad <@t> stowers-institute.org

_______________________________________________
Histonet mailing list
Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet