ULTRASOUND BIOMICROSCOPY OF SMALL ANIMAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY WITH THE vevo 770

描述（由申请人提供）：弗吉尼亚大学有一个广泛的NIH资助的心血管和癌症研究项目，使用小鼠进行研究。目前，广泛使用的是4.7特斯拉磁共振成像（MRI）扫描仪。然而，MRI有技术限制（例如帧速率）和图像采集速率太慢，无法实现所需的成像吞吐量。我们已经广泛研究了使用西门子红杉超声扫描仪对小鼠进行基于超声的心脏成像。红杉的图像分辨率几乎不足以满足我们目前的研究活动。然而，拟议购买的visualsonic Vevo 770小型动物超声成像系统将促进空间分辨率的提高，在所有三个维度中的每个维度上提高两到三倍。这将显著提高我们识别左室（LV）边界的能力，从而量化左室功能。更重要的是，它将使无法在红杉上进行的新研究成为可能。例如，我们期望能够无创地追踪结合分子靶向微泡在体内的位置，并提供极好的解剖背景信息。它还将使我们能够对小鼠和大鼠血管疾病模型的血流和灌注进行高分辨率定量评估。Vevo扫描仪的高分辨率（90微米x 30微米）为各种图像分析/处理技术提供了优越的输入数据。例如，使用高速、自动化技术可以更可靠、更准确地评估血管和器官壁。高分辨率还可以自动识别心肌运动的细节，从而提供基于超声的小鼠心脏应变成像。因此，Vevo 770将使UVA的研究人员能够开发几种新技术和应用，如果没有这种尖端仪器，这些技术和应用就无法开发。此外，在UVA，我们很幸运能够将我们的新超声技术与已经验证的基于mri的左室量化和应变成像方法进行比较。从长期来看，Vevo 770扫描仪可以对肿瘤生长和血管生成进行无创评估。PI亦与VisualSonics建立了紧密的技术关系，使UVA在3D采集和重建、图像处理和应变测量等领域开发的技术可由VisualSonics商业化。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University of Virginia has an extensive NIH funded research program in cardiovascular and cancer research using mice. Currently, extensive use is made of a 4.7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. However, the MRI has technical limitations (e.g. frame rate) and image acquisition rate is too slow to permit the imaging throughput that is desired. We have already extensively investigated the use of a Siemens Sequoia ultrasound scanner to perform ultrasound-based cardiac imaging in mice. The Sequoia's image resolution is scarcely adequate for our current research activities. However, the proposed purchase of a VisualSonics Vevo 770 small animal ultrasound imaging system will facilitate improvements in spatial resolution by a factor of two to three in each of all three dimensions. This will enable significant improvement in our ability to resolve left ventricular (LV) borders and thus quantify LV function. More importantly, it will enable new research that is impossible to conduct on the Sequoia. For example, we anticipate being able to noninvasively track the location of bound molecular targeted microbubbles in vivo with superb anatomic contextual information. It will also enable us to make high resolution quantitative assessments of blood flow and perfusion in mouse and rat models of vascular disease. The superb resolution of the Vevo scanner (90 microns x 30 microns) provides superior input data for various image analysis / processing techniques. For example, vessel and organ walls may be more reliably and accurately assessed using high-speed, automated techniques. The high resolution also enables the fine detail of myocardial muscle motion to be automatically discerned, thus providing for ultrasound-based strain imaging in the mouse heart. Thus the Vevo 770 will enable investigators at UVA to develop several new technologies and applications that could not be developed without this cutting-edge instrumentation. Furthermore, at UVA, we are fortunate to be able to benchmark our new ultrasound techniques against already validated MRI-based approaches to LV quantification and strain imaging. Longer term, the Vevo 770 scanner may enable noninvasive assessment of tumor growth and angiogenesis. The PI has also established a close technical relationship with VisualSonics so that technology developed at UVA in the areas of 3D acquisition and reconstruction, image processing and strain measurement, may be commercialized by VisualSonics. Public Health Statement: The purchase of the Vevo system will permit rapid progress to be made in fundamental understanding of the progress of various forms of heart and human circulation diseases. It will also allow the analysis of possible treatments for these conditions. It is common practice to use mice for initial experimentation in this field for a number of practical reasons - similarity to human species at the genetic level, ability to manipulate the genome, low cost, inexpensive housing, etc.