Open AccessNon-contact small animal fluorescence imaging system for simultaneous multi-directional angular-dependent data acquisition
Author(s) -
Jong Hwan Lee,
Hyun Keol Kim,
Chandhanarat Chandhanayingyong,
Francis YoungIn Lee,
Andreas H. Hielscher
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
biomedical optics express
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.362
H-Index - 86
ISSN - 2156-7085
DOI - 10.1364/boe.5.002301
Subject(s) - imaging phantom , computer science , iterative reconstruction , computer vision , optics , image quality , data acquisition , image processing , artificial intelligence , image (mathematics) , physics , operating system
We present a novel non-contact small animal fluorescent molecular tomography (FMT) imaging system. At the heart of the system is a new mirror-based imaging head that was designed to provide 360-degree measurement data from an entire animal surface in one step. This imaging head consists of two conical mirrors, which considerably reduce multiple back reflections between the animal and mirror surfaces. These back reflections are common in existing mirror-based imaging heads and tend to degrade the quality of raw measurement data. In addition, the introduction of a novel ray-transfer operator allows for the inclusion of the angular dependent data in the image reconstruction process, which results in higher image resolution. We describe in detail the system design and implementation of the hardware components as well as the transport-theory-based image reconstruction algorithm. Using numerical simulations, measurements on a well-defined phantom and a live animal, we evaluate the system performance and show the advantages of our approach.