Yonsei Med J.  2008 Apr;49(2):337-340. 10.3349/ymj.2008.49.2.337.

A New Method for Investigation of the Hair Shaft: Hard X-Ray Microscopy with a 90-nm Spatial Resolution

• Jeon SY
• Goo JW
• Hong SP
• Oh TH
• Youn HS
• Lee WS

• KMID: 1084511
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3349/ymj.2008.49.2.337

Abstract

Various methods have been used to investigate the hair shaft. In the ultrastructural hair field, scanning and transmission electron microscopies are widely used investigative methods, but they have some technical limitations. Recently, X-ray microscopes with sub-micron spatial resolution have emerged as useful instruments because they offer a unique opportunity to observe the interior of an undamaged sample in greater detail. In this report, we examined damaged hair shaft tips using hard X-ray microscopy with a 90 nm spatial resolution. The results of this study suggest that hard X-ray microscopy is an alternative investigative method for hair morphology studies.

Keyword

Hard X-ray microscopy; hair

MeSH Terms

Adult
Female
Hair/*pathology
Humans
Microscopy/instrumentation/*methods
Reproducibility of Results
*X-Rays

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Layout of the optical system in the X-ray microscope. The size of each optical component is not to scale. The diameter of the condenser and the objective zone plate are 4000 and 160 microns, respectively (Adapted from Youn HS and Jung SW, Observations of the human hair shaft with an X-ray microscope, Phy Med Biol 2005;50:5417-20). PLS, Pohang Light Source.

• 

  Fig. 2 Hair tip images from a hard X-ray microscope. (A) an image from a 22-year-old female volunteer with a natural hair tip viewed through the hard X-ray microscope. (B) an image from a 28-year-old female volunteer with a weathering hair tip viewed through the hard X-ray microscope. (C) an image from a 32-year-old female volunteer with a weathering hair tip viewed through the hard X-ray microscope. The exposure time was 60 seconds for all samples (bar 50 µm).

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