Using synchrotron radiation to search for blood vessel structures and preserved soft tissue in dinosaur bones from the Cretaceous period

Abstract

Micro-computed tomography is a method that can be used paleontologically to investigate fossils in a non-invasive manner. A technique known as Propagation Phase-Contrast Synchrotron Radiation Micro-tomography can be applied to high density bone samples, which produces finestructure bone structure differentiation with high resolution in three-dimensional renderings [4]. In past analyses, possible preserved vascular structures were discovered within a rib bone sample from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. These possible preserved vascular structures were investigated further to test and compare the automated rendering and interpolation features of various applications, including Dragonfly Pro, ImageJ’s Labkit plugin, and Biomedisa. Dragonfly Pro was then utilized to extract fine mixed-density vessel structures from the T. Rex sample and a Hadrosaur neural spine sample.