Cell Boundaries Research Articles

Morphological control enables nanometer-scale dissection of cell-cell signaling complexes

Protein micropatterning enables robust control of cell positioning on electron-microscopy substrates for cryogenic electron tomography (cryo-ET). However, the combination of regulated cell boundaries and the underlying electron-microscopy substrate (EM-grids) provides a poorly understood microenvironment for cell biology. Because substrate stiffness and morphology affect cellular behavior, we devised protocols to characterize the nanometer-scale details of the protein micropatterns on EM-grids by combining cryo-ET, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Measuring force displacement characteristics of holey carbon EM-grids, we found that their effective spring constant is similar to physiological values expected from skin tissues. Despite their apparent smoothness at light-microscopy resolution, spatial boundaries of the protein micropatterns are irregular at nanometer scale. Our protein micropatterning workflow provides the means to steer both positioning and morphology of cell doublets to determine nanometer details of punctate adherens junctions. Our workflow serves as the foundation for studying the fundamental structural changes governing cell-cell signaling.

Possible protective and curative effects of selenium nanoparticles on testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia rat model.

Men over the age of 40 are more likely to develop benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is characterised by proliferation of the prostatic epithelium and stroma. Selenium in the form of nanoparticles is an essential metalloid mineral and antioxidant. In this study, selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) were tested for their potential protective and curative impacts on BPH in rats. Fifty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups: Group I (Control group); Group II (Orchiectomised group): bilateral orchiectomy was conducted on rats; Group III (BPH group): testosterone (TE) enanthate injection was used to induce BPH; Group IV (Protective group): rats were given SeNPs before subjecting rats to BPH; Group V (Curative group): rats were succumbed to BPH, followed by administration of SeNPs. Measurement of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and TE in serum was performed and prostates were weighed and prepared for histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural examination. In the BPH group, serum TE and PSA levels, as well as prostate weight, increased significantly and significant decreases were observed in the protective and curative groups. Reduced acinar lumen, expansion of stroma and epithelial hyperplasia were noticed in the BPH group, which were ameliorated significantly in both the protective and curative groups. There was an increase in proliferating cell nuclear antigen immunoreaction in the BPH group and a decrease in both the protective and curative groups. On transmission electron microscopy of BPH group, the nuclei appeared irregular with dilated endoplasmic reticulum, loss of cell boundaries and apical microvilli. The protective group showed more improvement than the curative group. The effects of SeNPs on BPH induced by TE in rats, were both protective and curative, although the protective effects were more pronounced.

Smoothed floating node method for modelling cohesive fracture in quasi-brittle materials

This paper presents a numerical framework for implementation of cohesive zone model with smoothed floating node method (SFNM) for failure analysis of quasi-brittle materials. The nonlinear behavior of material inside the fracture process zone in front of the crack tip is modeled with a potential-based intrinsic cohesive zone approach. Here, SFNM is used to represent the kinematics of crack and the crack front inside the domain without the requirement of remeshing and discontinuous enrichment functions during crack growth, hence resolves the issues associated with the existing discrete numerical methods. A strain smoothing technique is adopted over the domain through which classical domain integration changes to line integration along each boundary of the smoothing cell, hence derivative of shape functions are not required in the computation of the field gradients, thus resolves the issue of element distortion. The proposed numerical framework is firstly verified using the patch test of the two-dimensional specimen under mode I and mode II loading conditions and subsequently extended for solving the two-dimensional standard fracture problems. The effectiveness of the proposed framework is checked by comparing the computational results with the available literature results.

Enhancing the mechanical property of laser powder bed fusion CoCrMo alloy by tailoring the microstructure and phase constituent

Cellular structure with a high density of dislocations and elemental segregation at the cell boundaries is the characteristic microstructure of the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) CoCrMo alloy. This structure is known to be merit to the alloy's strength, but this structure and elemental heterogeneity are likely to be detrimental to the ductility. In this study, the effect of solution treatment and aging on the microstructure, phase fraction, and mechanical behaviors of a CoCrMo alloy fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) was investigated, in order to achieve a microstructure state with excellent synergy in strength and ductility. The results showed that solution treatment at 1150 °C for 1 h was sufficient to remove the cellular structure and eliminated the elemental segregation, but it resulted in a dramatic reduction in yield strength. Direct aging at 750 °C for 2 h led to a boost in the yield strength due to the precipitation of Cr-rich carbides, but the alloy ductility was significantly reduced and the elemental segregation was maintained. An excellent combination of strength and ductility was achieved via a two-step solution and aging treatment, by which both the strength and ductility were improved compared to that of the as-built CoCrMo alloy. Multiscale characterizations demonstrated that the synergetic strength and ductility were mainly attributed to the strengthening effect of the ε phase formed during aging and stress-induced γ to ε phase transformation under mechanical loading. In addition, the enhanced ductility was also evidently benefited from the eliminated cellular structure and elemental segregation, which reduces the tendency in crack nucleation.

Deetect: A Deep Learning-Based Image Analysis Tool for Quantification of Adherent Cell Populations on Oxygenator Membranes after Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Therapy.

The strong interaction of blood with the foreign surface of membrane oxygenators during ECMO therapy leads to adhesion of immune cells on the oxygenator membranes, which can be visualized in the form of image sequences using confocal laser scanning microscopy. The segmentation and quantification of these image sequences is a demanding task, but it is essential to understanding the significance of adhering cells during extracorporeal circulation. The aim of this work was to develop and test a deep learning-supported image processing tool (Deetect), suitable for the analysis of confocal image sequences of cell deposits on oxygenator membranes at certain predilection sites. Deetect was tested using confocal image sequences of stained (DAPI) blood cells that adhered to specific predilection sites (junctional warps and hollow fibers) of a phosphorylcholine-coated polymethylpentene membrane oxygenator after patient support (>24 h). Deetect comprises various functions to overcome difficulties that occur during quantification (segmentation, elimination of artifacts). To evaluate Deetects performance, images were counted and segmented manually as a reference and compared with the analysis by a traditional segmentation approach in Fiji and the newly developed tool. Deetect outperformed conventional segmentation in clustered areas. In sections where cell boundaries were difficult to distinguish visually, previously defined post-processing steps of Deetect were applied, resulting in a more objective approach for the resolution of these areas.

Electron-ion-plasma boriding of a multilayer nanostructural high-entropy alloy

The structure and properties of a high-entropy alloy (HEA) subjected to saturation with boron atoms by a combined electron-ion-plasma method are characterized. On a HEA film of 5 μm thickness deposited on AISI 304 steel, a film (boron + chromium) with a thickness of 1 μm was deposited and then the system “(Cr + B) film / (HEA film deposited on AISI 304 steel) substrate” was irradiated with a pulsed electron beam. It is shown that the wear resistance of the resulting alloy is more than 30 times higher than that of the original HEA film. The microhardness of the alloy is 10.5 % higher than that of HEA in the initial state. It has been revealed that irradiation of the system with a pulsed electron beam leads to the formation of a multi-element surface alloy of composition (at.%) 5.8Al-11.6Ti-12.9Cr-13.0Fe-2.4Ni-13.1Cu-10.4Zr-8.8Nb, the rest (22 at.%) is oxygen and boron. Thus, seven-element HEA of non-stoichiometric composition, the concentration of metal elements of which varies within (5.8 –13.0) at.%, and additionally containing atoms of nickel, oxygen and boron was formed. It has been established that the high tribological and strength properties of the surface alloy are due to the formation of a multiphase submicron-nanocrystalline structure of high-speed cellular crystallization in the modified layer 6 µm thick. High-speed crystallization is accompanied by alloy delamination with the formation of extended interlayers enriched with copper atoms located along the boundaries of crystallization cells.

NCTUcell: A DDA- and Delay-Aware Cell Library Generator for FinFET Structure With Implicitly Adjustable Grid Map

For the 7-nm technology node, cell placement with a drain-to-drain abutment (DDA) requires additional filler cells, increasing the placement area. This is the first work to fully automatically synthesize a DDA-aware cell library with the optimized number of drains on cell boundary based on ASAP 7-nm PDK. We propose a DDA-aware dynamic programming-based transistor placement. Previous works ignore the use of the M0 layer in cell routing. We first propose an ILP-based M0 routing planning. With M0 routing, the congestion of M1 routing can be reduced and the pin accessibility (PA) can be improved due to the diminished use of M2 routing. We also present a quadratic-programming based-coupling-capacitance-aware initial routing to optimize cell delay, cell area, and M2 usage. To improve the routing resource utilization, we propose an implicitly adjustable grid map, making the maze routing able to explore more routing solutions. The experimental results show that block placement using the DDA-aware cell library requires fewer filler cells than that using the traditional cell library by 25.1%, which achieves a block area reduction rate of 0.97%.

Сравнение способов аппроксимации функции множителей Лагранжа при решении контактных задач методом с независимой границей контакта

The paper considers the contact problem of the elasticity theory in a static spatial two-dimensional formulation without considering friction. For discretization of the elasticity theory equations, the finite element method was introduced using a triangular unstructured grid and linear and quadratic basis functions. To account for the contact boundary conditions, a modified method of Lagrange multipliers with independent contact boundary is proposed. This method implies the ability to construct a contact boundary with the smoothness degree required for the solution precision and to execute approximation of the Lagrange multiplier function independent of the grids inside the contacting bodies. Various types of the Lagrange multiplier function approximations were studied, including piecewise constant, continuous piecewise linear functions and piecewise linear functions with discontinuities at the difference cells boundaries. Examples of test calculations are provided both for problems with rectilinear and curvilinear contact boundaries. In both cases, the use of discontinuous approximations of the Lagrange multiplier function makes it possible to obtain a numerical solution with fewer artificial oscillations and higher rate of convergence at the grid refinement. It is shown that the numerical solution precision could be improved by more detailed discretization of the contact boundary without changing the grids inside the contacting bodies

The effect of aluminum concentration on the structure evolution and mechanical properties of Cu/Al composites produced by electron-beam additive manufacturing

Electron-beam additive manufacturing with a simultaneous feed of two wires is used to produce Cu/Al composites with different contents of Al-12Si aluminum alloy. The obtained specimens are examined by optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis and tested for uniaxial static tension. The introduction of 25 vol % Al-12Si is found to form a fairly homogeneous structure characterized by Cu dendrites and a small volume fraction of Cu9Al4 and Cu4Al intermetallic compounds on the dendritic cell boundaries. The increase of the volume fraction of Al-12Si in the copper alloy to 33 vol % is accompanied by the formation of Cu9Al4, Cu4Al, and Cu3Al intermetallics and an increase in their volume fraction. In the composite with 33 vol % Al-12Si, the Cu9Al4 phase becomes the main one, thus causing brittle fracture of the specimens without plastic deformation. It is shown that, with an increase in the volume fraction of Al-12Si to 30 %, ultimate strength increases significantly in the copper alloy (up to 695 MPa) and relative elongation decreases (down to 4 %) due to the increasing volume fraction of the brittle CuxAly intermetallic phases. The results of hardness measurements testify that the increase of Al-12Si content in the specimens from 25 to 33 vol % increases their microhardness significantly, namely from 1.38 to 4.35 GPa.

Evaporative cooling for polymer electrolyte fuel cells - An operando analysis at technical single cell level

Evaporative cooling has the potential to reduce stack and system volume of polymer electrolyte fuel cells by up to 30% and to cut costs significantly by simplifying the multi-layered structure of bipolar plates and eliminating the need for external humidification.This study provides an experimental proof of concept by analyzing the evaporation behavior, cooling power, internal humidification, electrochemical performance and operational stability of evaporative cooling under technical cell boundary conditions. Isothermal in situ as well as operando studies are carried out in an evaporatively cooled fuel cell (15 cm2 active area, 80 °C, ambient pressure). Relative humidity boundary conditions imitate the inlet, center and outlet of a technical cell.Main findings show that the evaporation rate is saturation limited at low gas velocities, whereas it is transport limited at higher gas speed. Operando measurements prove that evaporative cooling works at a technical cell level with multiple water supply lines. The entire waste heat is removed and sufficient membrane humidification is achieved when dry inlet gases are used. Furthermore, it is shown that optimal performance is achieved in a counter-flow arrangement. The observed electrochemical performance is comparable to conventional cooling with humidified gases at inlet, center and outlet of the cell.

Histopatology kidney of seed white snipper (lates calcarifer bloch) which experienced a different decrease in salinity

White snapper (Lates calcarifer Bloch) is a consumption fish that has high economic and nutritional value. FAO stated that white snapper was a diversified species in aquaculture in 2018. This is because white snapper has many advantages such as fast growth rate, high fecundity, easy hatchery techniques in controlled containers, and high adaptability to various environmental conditions. The method used in this study was experimental with a completely randomized design (CRD) technique using 3 treatments with each treatment being repeated 3 times. The 3 treatments include; A : Water medium with a salinity content of 5 ppt; B : Water medium with a salinity content of 10 ppt; C : Water media with 15 ppt salinity. In this study, white snapper seeds measuring ±3 cm were given 3 different salinity treatments. The three treatments, salinity 5 ppt, 10 ppt, and 15 ppt caused histopathological abnormalities in the kidneys of snapper fish which were used as research objects. The kidney organ has Melano Macrophages Centers (MMC) and Necrosis (N). Kidneys with MMC are characterized by the presence of inflamed organ parts and a collection of pigmented macrophages. The occurrence of necrosis is characterized by the loss of tissue structure and then the kidney tissue is damaged, as well as the loss of cell boundaries or cell nuclei.

Polarization effects on the fluorescence emission of zebrafish neurons using light-sheet microscopy.

Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) makes use of a thin plane of light to optically section and image transparent tissues or organisms in vivo, which has the advantages of fast imaging speed and low phototoxicity. In this paper, we have employed light-sheet microscopy to investigate the polarization effects on fluorescence emission of zebrafish neurons via modifying the electric oscillation orientation of the excitation light. The intensity of the fluorescence emission from the excited zebrafish larvae follows a cosine square function with respect to the polarization state of the excitation light and reveals a 40% higher fluorescence emission when the polarization orientation is orthogonal to the illumination and detection axes. Through registration and subtraction of fluorescence images under different polarization states, we have demonstrated that most of the enhanced fluorescence signals are from the neuronal cells rather than the extracellular substance. This provides us a way to distinguish the cell boundaries and observe the organism structures with improved contrast and resolution.

The effects of overwintering temperature on the survival of female adult mud crab, Scylla paramamosain, under recirculating aquaculture systems as examined by histological analysis of the hepatopancreas and expression of apoptosis-related genes

The effects of the overwintering temperature (8, 12, 16, and 20 °C) on survival, antioxidant capacity, and heat shock protein (HSP) gene expression in Scylla paramamosain were examined during an experimental period of eight weeks. The effects of the temperature on survival were parabolic, with the highest and lowest survival rates occurring at 16 °C and 8 °C, respectively. Histological examination of the hepatopancreas revealed that the hepatopancreas tissue structure remained intact and that cell boundaries were clearly observed at 16 °C and 20 °C. However, hepatopancreas cells in the 12 °C and 8 °C groups appeared to be vacuolated and indistinct, respectively. Furthermore, high levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and low levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the hepatopancreas were observed in the 8 °C group. Hsp60 and hsp70 gene expression were dramatically upregulated, but hsp10, hsp40, hsp90, and glucose regulatory protein 78 (grp78) gene expression were downregulated at 8 °C. The terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase deoxy-UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method showed that there was more DNA damage at 8 °C and 12 °C than at 16 °C. Moreover, apoptosis was significantly induced with decreasing temperature, and the 8 °C group had the highest apoptosis index. Overall, these results suggest that the overwintering temperature greatly impacts the survival of mud crabs and that these effects may be mediated through antioxidant, HSP response, and apoptosis pathways. Significantly, the optimal overwintering temperature for S. paramamosain was extrapolated to be 14.2–16.1 °C. This suggests that temperature control should be considered in the process of mud crab overwintering.

Cytoophidia safeguard binucleation of Drosophila male accessory gland cells

Although most cells are mononuclear, the nucleus can exist in the form of binucleate or even multinucleate to respond to different physiological processes. The male accessory gland of Drosophila is the organ that produces semen, and its main cells are binucleate. Here we observe that CTP synthase (CTPS) forms filamentous cytoophidia in binuclear main cells, primarily located at the cell boundary. In CTPSH355A, a point mutation that destroys the formation of cytoophidia, we find that the nucleation mode of the main cells changes, including mononucleates and vertical distribution of binucleates. Although the overexpression of CTPSH355A can restore the level of CTPS protein, it will neither form cytoophidia nor eliminate the abnormal nucleation pattern. Therefore, our data indicate that there is an unexpected functional link between the formation of cytoophidia and the maintenance of binucleation in Drosophila main cells.

Identification of littoral cell and its impact on shoreline dynamics along the Purba Medinipur–Balasore coastal stretch, Bay of Bengal, India: A numerical modelling and geospatial study

The northern boundary of Bay of Bengal, between Subarnarekha and Rasulpur River is divided into five coastal sectors by the four inlets, namely, Talsari, Ramnagar, Jaldha, and Pichaboni. Each sector being characterized by severe coastal erosion, beach lowering and narrow beach segments. To bring such coastal areas under proper coastal management, delineation of littoral cell and sub-cell boundaries and assessment of sediment budget is required. This study attempts to identify these hydrodynamic characteristics, by investigating the wave-induced radiation stress of dominant wave, derived from offshore wave in order to simulate longshore current and associated sediment transport using the two-dimensional deterministic MIKE 21/3 Coupled Model that is based on two dimensional shallow water, Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations and fully spectral wave action conservation equation. The shoreline dynamics in terms of shoreline retreat or spit formation, is quantified by Digital shoreline analysis system (DSAS)The result of the simulation shows the dominant westerly and comparatively weaker easterly longshore flow and the resultant bed level changes. By analysing the diverging and converging flow pattern of littoral current, rate of bed level change and magnitude of shoreline oscillation, six and five littoral sub-cell (LSC) have been identified for westerly and easterly circulation respectively. The coastal inlets indirectly influence the flow direction through the development of different depositional features at mouth. Because of that inlet mouths often function as littoral cell boundaries.Periodic observation reveals that the introduction of shore-normal engineering structures has positive impact on beach nourishment and inlet stability.

Evaluation of the toxicity of di-iso-pentyl-phthalate (DiPeP) using the fish Danio rerio as an experimental model.

The presence of phthalates constitutes a risk to the health of aquatic environments and organisms. This work aimed to evaluate the toxic effects of di-iso-pentyl-phthalate (DiPeP) at environmentally relevant concentrations of 5, 25, and 125µg/L in Danio rerio after subchronic exposure for 14days. DiPeP altered the antioxidant system in the liver (125μg/L), intestine (25μg/L), brain, and gills in all concentrations tested. In animals exposed to 125μg/L, DNA damage was identified in the gills. In addition, loss of cell boundary of hepatocytes, vascular congestion, necrosis in the liver, and presence of immune cells in the intestinal lumen were observed. Erythrocytic nuclear alterations in the blood occurred in animals exposed to 25μg/L. DiPeP was quantified in muscle tissue at all exposure concentrations, appearing in a concentration-dependent manner. Contaminants such as DiPeP will still be used for a long time, mainly by industries, being a challenge for industry versus environmental health.

Microtubule organization and cell geometry.

A characteristic feature of nondividing animal cells is the radial organization of microtubules (MTs), emanating from a single microtubule organizing center (MTOC). As generically these cells are not spherically symmetric, this raises the question of the influence of cell geometry on the orientational distribution of microtubules. We present a systematic study of this question in a simplified setting where MTs are nucleated from a single fixed MTOC in the center of an elliptical cell geometry. Within this context we introduce four models of increasing complexity, each one introducing additional mechanisms that govern the interaction of the MTs with the cell boundary. In order, we consider the cases: MTs that can bind to the boundary with a fixed mean residence time (M0), force-producing MTs that can slide on the boundary towards the cell poles (MS), MTs that interact with a generic polarity factor that is transported and deposited at the boundary, and which in turn stabilizes the MTs at the boundary (MP), and a final model in which both sliding and stabilization by polarity factors is taken into account (MSP). In the baseline model (M0), the exponential length distribution of MTs causes most of the interactions at the cell boundary to occur along the shorter transverse direction in the cell, leading to transverse biaxial order. MT sliding (MS) is able to reorient the main axis of this biaxial order along the longitudinal axis. The polarization mechanism introduced in MP and MSP overrules the geometric bias towards bipolar order observed in M0 and MS, and allows the establishment of unipolar order either along the short (MP) or the long cell axis (MSP). The behavior of the latter two models can be qualitatively reproduced by a very simple toy model with discrete MT orientations.

Effect of heat treatment on corrosion behaviour of additively manufactured 316L stainless steel in high-temperature water

Post-manufacturing heat treatment (PMHT) effect on the corrosion behaviour of directed energy deposition (DED) 316L stainless steel was investigated in hydrogenated water at 325 °C. As-DEDed and residual stress relief PMHTed (850 °C/2 h) specimens exhibited similar corrosion resistance, showing thick and thin inner oxide layer on the Cr-depleted cell interior and Cr-rich cell boundary, respectively. Composition homogenization PMHTed (1150 °C/1 h) specimen showed the best corrosion resistance with the much thinner inner oxide layer. The enhanced corrosion resistance of the PMHTed DED 316L than wrought 316L could be related to the unique large grain in DED 316L.

An Automated Pipeline for Cell Differentials on Whole-Slide Bone Marrow Aspirate Smears

Abstract Current pathologic diagnosis of benign and neoplastic bone marrow disorders relies in part on the microscopic analysis of bone marrow aspirate (BMA) smears and manual counting of nucleated cell populations to obtain a cell differential. This manual process has significant limitations, including the limited sample of cells analyzed by a conventional 500-cell differential compared to the thousands of nucleated cells present, as well as the inter-observer variability seen between differentials on single samples due to differences in cell selection and classification. To address these shortcomings, we developed an automated computational platform for obtaining cell differentials from scanned whole-slide BMAs at 40x magnification. This pipeline utilizes a sequential process of identifying BMA regions with high proportions of marrow nucleated cells that are ideal for cell counting, detecting individual cells within these optimal regions, and classifying cells into one of 11 types within the differential. Training of convolutional neural network models for region and cell classification, as well as a region-based convolutional neural network for cell detection, involved the generation of an annotated training data set containing 10,948 BMA regions, 28,914 cell boundaries, and 23,609 cell classifications from 73 BMA slides. Among 44 testing BMA slides, an average of 19,209 viable cells per slide were identified and used in automated cell differentials, with a range of 237 to 126,483 cells. In comparing these automated cell differential percentages with corresponding manual differentials, cell type-specific correlation coefficients ranged from 0.913 for blast cells to 0.365 for myelocytes, with an average coefficient of 0.654 among all 11 cell types. A statistically significant concordance was observed among slides with blast percentages less or greater than 20% (p=1.0x10-5) and with plasma cell percentages less or greater than 10% (p=5.9x10-6) between automated and manual differentials, suggesting potential diagnostic utility of this automated pipeline for malignancies such as acute myeloid leukemia and multiple myeloma. Additionally, by simulating the manual counting of 500 cells within localized areas of a BMA slide and iterating over all optimal slide locations, we quantified the inter-observer variability associated with limited sample size in traditional BMA cell counting. Localized differentials exemplify an average variance ranging from 24.1% for erythroid precursors to 1.8% for basophils. Variance in localized differentials of up to 44.8% for blast cells and 36.9% for plasma cells was observed, demonstrating that sample classification based on diagnostic thresholds of cell populations is variable even between different areas within a single slide. Finally, pipeline outputs of region classification, cell detection, cell classification, and localized cell differentials can be visualized using whole-slide image analysis software. By improving cell sampling and reducing inter-observer variability, this automated pipeline has potential to improve the current standard of practice for utilizing BMA smears in the diagnosis of hematologic disorders.

Unraveling the low thermal conductivity of the LPBF fabricated pure Al, AlSi12, and AlSi10Mg alloys through substrate preheating

It is essential to employ post-build heat treatment on the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) fabricated aluminum (Al) and Al alloys due to their thermal conductivity in the as-built condition being inferior to that of the conventionally manufactured counterparts. In this study, substrate preheating (200 °C) was proposed as a solution to achieve high thermal conductivities in the as-built condition. Pure Al, AlSi12, and AlSi10Mg samples were shown to possess up to 15 %, 25 %, and 80 % higher thermal conductivity values than their non-preheated counterparts reported in the literature. An analytical analysis contingent on calculating electron mean free path in the presence of only intrinsic or a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic scattering phenomena was introduced to justify the thermal behaviors. As per micro X-ray computed tomography, EBSD analysis, and TEM investigations, the extrinsic scattering sites were found to be (i) pores, (ii) grain boundaries, (iii) cell boundaries (Al alloys), (iv) oxides (pure Al), (v) nano-size Si precipitates (AlSi10Mg), (vi) nano-size Mg 2 Si phase (AlSi10Mg), (vii) vacancies, (viii) dislocations and (ix) Si supersaturation in α-Al phase (Al alloys). The dominant scattering site(s) was found for each material based on which the difference between the obtained thermal conductivity and its corresponding nominal value or the one reported for the non-preheated condition was unraveled. The implications of the findings in this study are essential not only for Al/Al alloys but also for other metallic materials (i.e., Cu alloys), requiring high thermal conductivity in the as-built condition.