title: Whole-body live mouse imaging by hybrid reflection-mode ultrasound and optoacoustic tomography.
abstract: We present a hybrid preclinical imaging scanner that optimally supports image acquisition in both reflection-mode ultrasonography and optoacoustic (OA) tomography modes. The system comprises a quasi-full-ring tomographic geometry capable of the simultaneous dual-mode imaging through entire cross sections of mice with in-plane spatial resolution in the range of 150 and 350 μm in the respective OA and ultrasound (US) imaging modes with an imaging speed of up to 10 two-dimensional frames per second. Three-dimensional whole-body data is subsequently rendered by rapid scanning of the imaged plane. The system further incorporates rapid laser wavelength tuning for real-time acquisition of multispectral OA data, which enables studies of longitudinal dynamics as well as fast kinetics and biodistribution of contrast agents. In vivo imaging performance is demonstrated by label-free hybrid anatomical scans through living mice, as well as real-time visualization of optical contrast agent perfusion. By setting new standards for whole-body tomographic imaging performance in both the OA and pulse-echo US modes, the developed hybrid imaging approach is expected to benefit numerous applications where the availability of high-quality structural information provided by the tomographic reflection-mode US can ease interpretation of the functional and molecular imaging results attained by the OA modality.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Merčep
authors.forename: Neal C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Burton
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Claussen
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Razansky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D064847:Multimodal Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D061088:Photoacoustic Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods*; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000379:methods*; D051598:Whole Body Imaging / Q000379:methods*