Sibillano T, De Caro L, Scattarella F, Scarcelli G, Siliqi D, Altamura D, Liebi M, Ladisa M, Bunk O, Giannini C
Istituto di Cristallografia (IC-CNR), via Amendola 122/O, Bari, I-70126, Italy.
IOM CNR Laboratorio TASC , Area Science Park - Basovizza, Bld MM SS 14, Trieste, 34149, Italy.
J Appl Crystallogr. 2016 Jul 14;49(Pt 4):1231-1239. doi: 10.1107/S1600576716010396. eCollection 2016 Aug 1.
Bovine cornea was studied with scanning small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) microscopy, by using both synchrotron radiation and a microfocus laboratory source. A combination of statistical (adaptive binning and canonical correlation analysis) and crystallographic (pair distribution function analysis) approaches allowed inspection of the collagen lateral packing of the supramolecular structure. Results reveal (i) a decrease of the interfibrillar distance and of the shell thickness around the fibrils from the periphery to the center of the cornea, (ii) a uniform fibril diameter across the explored area, and (iii) a distorted quasi-hexagonal arrangement of the collagen fibrils. The results are in agreement with existing literature. The overlap between laboratory and synchrotron-radiation data opens new perspectives for further studies on collagen-based/engineered tissues by the SAXS microscopy technique at laboratory-scale facilities.
采用同步辐射和微聚焦实验室光源，通过扫描小角X射线散射（SAXS）显微镜对牛角膜进行了研究。结合统计方法（自适应分箱和典型相关分析）和晶体学方法（对分布函数分析），可以检测超分子结构中胶原蛋白的侧向堆积情况。结果表明：（i）从角膜周边到中心，原纤维间距离和原纤维周围壳层厚度减小；（ii）在研究区域内原纤维直径均匀；（iii）胶原原纤维的准六边形排列扭曲。这些结果与现有文献一致。实验室数据与同步辐射数据的重叠，为在实验室规模设施中利用SAXS显微镜技术对基于胶原蛋白的/工程组织进行进一步研究开辟了新的前景。
