Complete angle small animal fluorescence imaging with early-arriving photons.
Fluorescence mediated tomography allows quantitative, three-dimensional imaging of optical reporter probes in whole animals and is therefore emerging as a powerful molecular imaging tool. The achievable image quality in fluorescence tomography is limited by the high-degree of light scatter in biological tissue. Time-gated detection of early-arriving and therefore minimally-scattered photons transmitted through diffusive tissue is one strategy for minimizing the effects of light scatter. In this work, we performed full-angle tomographic imaging of mice implanted with fluorescent tubes using time-gated detection of early- and later-arriving photons. This was achieved using a femtosecond laser and a high-speed, time-gated intensified CCD imager. We demonstrate that the early-transmitted fluorescent photons allow improved visualization of the fluorescence distribution, even when considering individual projections through the animal. High-fidelity image reconstruction using 72 projections in 5-degree steps using early-arriving photons is also demonstrated.
Niedre
Mark
M
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mniedre@ece.neu.edu
Ntziachristos
Vasilis
V
D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000662:veterinary*; D017785:Photons; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000662:veterinary*