Small animal tomographic imager for luminescence, fluorescence and CT

小动物模型的成像方法是基础生物医学研究中描述与解剖、代谢、信号转导以及不同器官和细胞类型相互作用有关的生理和病理生理过程的重要方法。传统的二维光学成像方法在解剖学意义、可描述的参数数量以及无法真正量化方面都受到限制。在平面二维方法中，散射和吸收在很大程度上证伪了结果。因此，精确定位和精确测定强度（从而测定探针分子的绝对浓度）是不可能的。用于发光、荧光和CT的层析小动物成像仪允许对麻醉的活体（通常是小鼠）进行非侵入性成像，具有相当的穿透深度，具有微CT校正，改进了光学信号的3D重建，因此具有高精度的位置和强度数据。集成微ct也为探针的荧光和生物发光观察提供了重要的解剖学参考。生物发光也已发展成为临床前肿瘤学生长和治疗监测的标准程序，以及免疫学问题中的细胞跟踪。参与应用程序的研究小组处理需要这种最先进技术的问题，以便能够进行有竞争力的研究。具体来说，需要这项技术，例如，通过精确的生物体3D表示来定位细胞迁移，或者通过精确的器官分割来检查分子探针是否成功靶向肿瘤细胞。各工作组已经建立了所需的方法基础，因此需要一种能够进行这种探测的光学系统。

Imaging methods for small animal models are an essential method in basic biomedical research to describe physiological and pathophysiological processes at the organismic level in relation to anatomy, metabolism, signal transduction and the interaction of different organs and cell types. Conventional optical imaging methods in 2D are limited both in their anatomical significance, the number of parameters that can be described and the fact that no real quantification is possible. With the planar 2D methods, the results are falsified to a considerable extent by scattering and absorption. As a result, precise localization and exact determination of intensities (and thus determination of the absolute concentration of probe molecules) are not possible. A tomographic small animal imager for luminescence, fluorescence and CT allows non-invasive imaging of the anesthetized, living organism (typically mouse) with considerable penetration depth, with microCT-corrected, improved 3D reconstruction of the optical signals and thus high accuracy of location and intensity data. The integrated microCT also provides an important anatomical reference for the observation of the probes via fluorescence and bioluminescence. Bioluminescence has also developed into a standard procedure for growth and therapy monitoring in preclinical oncology and for cell tracking in immunological questions. The research groups involved in the application deal with issues that require this state-of-the-art technology in order to be able to conduct competitive research. Specifically, this technology is required, for example, to localize cell migration through the precise 3D representation of the organism or to check the successful targeting of tumor cells by molecular probes through precise organ segmentation. The required methodical bases are already established in the working groups and an optical system, which enables this detection, is accordingly required.