ABSTRACT
All samples were studied with the high-resolution micro-CT 40 (μCT-40) (Scanco Medical, Bassersdorf, Switzerland). The device has a microsource X-ray (10 μA, 25 keV) directed toward the object to examine (Feldkamp et al. 1989; Müller & Rüegsegger, 1997). For a three-dimensional image, each articular apophysis was irradiated by an automatic scanning system, serial in the xy plane with a nominal resolution of 36 μm, and a Voxel size = 36 × 36 × 36 μm3. The resulting image was segmented using a low-pass Gaussian filter for removing noise (Müller et al, 1994; Müller & Rüegsegger, 1997).
