title: An Ultrahigh Resolution SPECT System for I-125 Mouse Brain Imaging Studies.
abstract: This paper presents some initial experimental results obtained with a dual-head prototype single photon emission microscope system (SPEM) that is dedicated to mouse brain studies using I-125 labeled radiotracers. In particular, this system will be used for in vivo tacking of radiolabeled T cells in mouse brain. This system is based on the use of the intensified electron multiplying charge-coupled device (I-EMCCD) camera that offers the combination of an excellent intrinsic spatial resolution, a good signal-to-noise ratio, a large active area and a reasonable detection efficiency over an energy range between 27-140keV. In this study, the dual-head SPEM system was evaluated using both resolution phantoms and a mouse with locally injected T cells labelled with I-125. It was demonstrated that for a relatively concentrated source object, the current dual-head SPEM system is capable of visualizing the tiny amount of radioactivity (~12 nCi) carried by a very small number (<1000) of T cells. The current SPEM system design allows four or six camera heads to be installed in a stationary system configuration that offers a doubled or tripled sensitivity at a spatial resolution similar to that obtained with the dualhead system. This development would provide a powerful tool for in vivo and non-invasive tracking of radiolabeled T cells in mouse brain and potentially for other rodent brain imaging studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Suppe
authors.forename: C T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Chen