SIMPLIFIED MEASUREMENT OF REGIONAL FLOW

描述(申请者的逐字描述)：这个项目的目标是 开发快速、低成本的方法来测定区域血流量 哺乳动物组织和更广泛的区域血流测量 研究人员可以通过更低成本和节省时间的仪器获得。这 研究的基础是工作假设，即 注入循环血流的荧光微球可直接计数 在被压缩的组织样本中确定局部血流。这项技术 将取代目前估计微球数量的间接方法， 包括广泛处理放射性或腐蚀性溶液，以及 需要昂贵的用品和仪器。 压缩成像法计数的精密度和准确度 在第一阶段对组织中的微球进行评估行扫描成像提供 快速流动分析，样品处理最少，成本适中。照相 成像是一种成本较低的替代方案，需要更多的时间，但也大大简化了 微球计数。这些仪器和方法将在组织上进行测试 样品包含多达四种不同荧光颜色的微球。这个 华盛顿大学荧光微球资源中心将 用已建立的放射性微球验证这些方法 方法。 建议的商业应用： 这项技术将用直接计数微球的仪器取代目前估计微球的方法。潜在的市场包括目前使用荧光微球的数百个实验室，以及使用替代的放射性和彩色微球方法的大量额外研究人员。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's Description Verbatim): The goal of this project is to develop rapid, low-cost methods for determining regional blood flow in mammalian tissues and to make regional blood flow measurements more widely accessible to researchers through lower-cost and time-saving instruments. This research is based on the working hypothesis that the distribution of fluorescent microspheres injected into circulatory flow can be directly counted in compressed-tissue samples to determine regional blood flow. This technology would replace current indirect methods that estimate numbers of microspheres, that involve extensive handling of radioactive or caustic solutions, and that require expensive supplies and instrumentation. The precision and accuracy of compression-imaging methods for counting microspheres in tissues were evaluated during Phase I. Line-scan imaging offers rapid flow analysis with minimal sample handling at moderate cost. Photographic imaging, a lower-cost alternative, takes more time, but also greatly simplifies microsphere counting. The instruments and methods will be tested on tissue samples containing microspheres of up to four different fluorescent colors. The Fluorescent Microsphere Resource Center at the University of Washington will validate these methods against the well-established radioactive microsphere method. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This technology will replace current methods of estimating microspheres with instruments that directly count microspheres. Potential markets include the hundreds of laboratories currently using fluorescent microspheres and the large numbers of additional researchers utilizing the alternative radioactive- and colored-microsphere methods.