title: Fluorescence tomography technique optimized for noninvasive imaging of the mouse brain.
abstract: In vivo molecular fluorescence tomography of brain disease mouse models has two very specific demands on the optical setup: the use of pigmented furry mice does not allow for a purely noncontact setup, and a high spatial accuracy is required on the dorsal side of the animal due to the location of the brain. We present an optimized setup and tomographic scheme that meet these criteria through a combined CW reflectance-transmittance fiber illumination approach and a charge-coupled device contactless detection scheme. To consider the anatomy of the mouse head and take short source detector separations into account, the forward problem was evaluated by a Monte Carlo simulation input with a magnetic resonance image of the animal. We present an evaluation of reconstruction performance of the setup under three different condition. (i) Using a simulated dataset, with well-defined optical properties and low noise, the reconstructed position accuracy is below 0.5 mm. (ii) Using experimental data on a cylindrical tissue-simulating phantom with well-defined optical properties, a spatial accuracy of about 1 mm was found. (iii) Finally, on an animal model with a fluorescent inclusion in the brain, the target position was reconstructed with an accuracy of 1.6 mm.
authors.affiliation: Berlin Neuroimaging Center, Chariteplatz 1, 10098 Berlin, Germany. riad.bourayou@alumni.charite.de
authors.forename: Riad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bourayou
authors.forename: Heide
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boeth
authors.forename: Heval
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Benav
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Betz
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Lindauer
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nierhaus
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klohs
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wunder
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dirnagl
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steinbrink
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000379:methods*