Orofacial imaging

Project conducted by Lotfi Slimani and Benjamin Salmon

Exploring a mineralized tissue, particularly that contains tooth enamel (the most mineralized structure of the body), requires a technological expertise that is very specific to the history of our laboratory. We participate to the French Society of Biology of mineralized tissues, BIOMAT, European Calcified Tissue Society and International Conference on the Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissues, to create a national and international networking around this theme. We have extended this approach by developing a specific branch “imaging” in our project. Our laboratory encloses a high-resolution micro-CT for small living animals which is open as a facility for academic teams with similar concerns to ours (PIV, piv.parisdescartes.fr). Advances in three-dimensional X-ray imaging allows a real-time exploration of small animal bone microstructure and evaluates growth, vascularization (with contrast agents), abnormal shape or structure and induced bone or tooth repair/regeneration. This approach which is applied for all our research protocols limits the number of studied animals and guides the consecutive histological exploration. Strong emphasis is focused not only on the micro-CT analysis of samples but also in data processing. The laboratory is labeled platform Ibisa for Imaging of the living, PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité (FLI node). In addition, the association of our Micro-CT with dental cone beam CT machines on site allows our team to be partner of two European research grants with prestigious partners such as K-Leuven University and the French Polytechnic School.