Stephan Handschuh Stephan Handschuh Ursula Reichart Ursula Reichart Stefan Kummer Stefan Kummer Simone Gabner Simone Gabner Bernhard Ruthensteiner Bernhard Ruthensteiner Andy Sombke Andy Sombke Thomas Schwaha Thomas Schwaha Christian J. Beisser Christian J. Beisser Patrick Lemell Patrick Lemell David Haberthür David Haberthür Ruslan Hlushchuk Ruslan Hlushchuk Rudolf Glueckert Rudolf Glueckert Brian D. Metscher Brian D. Metscher Martin Glösmann Martin Glösmann Walter de Gruyter 2025 In this view article, we present potential applications of laboratory-based spectral dual-energy X-ray microtomography imaging for ex vivo animal tissue samples. Technical details on this topic have been reported in previous work, so we focus explicitly on applications here, discussing both dual-energy imaging for the separation of mineralised tissue from one X-ray dense contrast agent, as well as the imaging of samples stained with two X-ray dense contrast agents. Examples are given for a variety of research areas, including preclinical biomedical phenotyping (vasculature, skeletal development), comparative vertebrate morphology, and invertebrate anatomy. Based on the data presented, we conclude that the use of spectral X-ray information can provide new insights into CT datasets. Although using the dual-energy approach initially requires more effort and cost in data acquisition, this additional effort is often worthwhile, as dual-energy datasets allow for more efficient data visualisation, segmentation, and analysis. Until now, software functions for acquisition and processing of dual-energy data have not been implemented in many of the software toolboxes provided by X-ray microtomography vendors with their scanners. We propose that a user-friendly implementation of software tools for acquiring and processing spectral CT data would be a big step towards a wider use of this promising and powerful imaging approach. PDFDocument eng 2026-06-22T14:56:30.052804927Z 2025 X-ray Microtomography MicroCT µCT DECT Basis Material Decomposition DiceCT 7485768 b application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/