Fluorescence molecular tomography of brain tumors in mice

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Imaging
• Optical Tomography
• Molecular Imaging

Background:

• Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) enables 3D visualization of fluorescence biodistribution in vivo.
• Applications span small-animal research and pre-clinical diagnostics.
• Typical FMT systems comprise illumination, animal mount, imaging, and data acquisition subsystems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a detailed procedure for tomographic reconstruction of fluorescence biodistribution in small animals.
• To describe the imaging system, equipment, and image acquisition steps.
• To outline preliminary image processing and tomographic reconstruction methods.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a charge-coupled device (CCD)-based trans-illumination imaging system.
• Rotated small animals (e.g., mice) through 360° for multi-projection photon acquisition.
• Developed a step-by-step procedure for image acquisition and processing.
• Outlined the tomographic reconstruction process.

Main Results:

• Successfully reconstructed the 3D fluorescence biodistribution in small animals.
• Demonstrated the method's efficacy by imaging a brain tumor in a glioblastoma mouse model.
• Provided a comprehensive description of the imaging system and methodology.

Conclusions:

• The presented fluorescence molecular tomography procedure enables accurate 3D reconstruction of in vivo fluorescence biodistribution in small animals.
• This method is valuable for pre-clinical diagnostics and advancing small-animal research.
• The successful imaging of a glioblastoma mouse model highlights the technique's potential.