Scaling up X-ray holographic nanotomography for neuronal tissue imaging

Neuronal circuit reconstruction from X-ray holographic nanotomography (XNH) images of neuronal tissue requires overcoming limits in acquisition speed, image quality, and sample size. To fully exploit the higher brilliance of the European Synchrotron’s upgraded source, advances in endstation instrumentation and adapted data collection strategies are necessary. A detector upgrade combined with continuous scanning for XNH of neural tissue samples at the ESRF’s ID16A beamline demonstrates preserved or improved quality of images of large samples whilst increasing data acquisition time by more than a factor of two. This is a critical step in enabling the scaling up of XNH for neuronal tissue imaging.