Small Animal Imaging Facility
The Small Animal Imaging Facility, part of the Advanced Imaging Laboratories, is located in the SVM vivarium of the Division of Laboratory Animal Medicine. The Small Animal Imaging Facility provides imaging support services for investigators, including
- Assistance in experimental design
- System operation, including image acquisition and reconstruction
- Consulting for data processing and image interpretation
The goal of the Small Animal Imaging Facility is to provide state-of-the-art noninvasive imaging support to investigators who use small animal models in their research. The Small Animal Imaging Facility also welcomes users from other areas and interests who would like to use imaging in their research. We support investigators at LSU, as well as from outside institutions. We can also provide contact information for additional imaging resources in Baton Rouge and beyond.
Instruments
SPECTRAL Ami System
In vivo optical imaging is a molecular imaging technology that uses light-emitting agents to visualize and measure physiological and biological processes within small live laboratory animals such as mice and rats.
The SPECTRAL Ami system from Spectral Instruments is capable of acquiring quantitative optical images from a diverse set of sources including well plates, plants, and small animals. The imaging system contains a high performance cooled CCD camera to record the image collected by a large aperture lens with automation for filter and field of view selection. Luminescence, fluorescence, and photographic modalities are combined into the system.
Excitation LED Wavelengths include: 430, 465, 500, 535, 570, 605, 640, 675, 710, and 745nm.
Emission Filters include: 490, 510, 530, 550, 570, 590, 610, 630, 650, 670, 690, 710, 730, 750, 770, 790, 810, 830, 850, and 870nm.
Optical imaging is fast and easy to perform and is relatively inexpensive compared to the other molecular imaging modalities. The SPECTRAL Ami can be used in oncology research to follow disease progression, to detect metastasis from primary tumors, to accurately quantify tumor burden, and efficiently monitor responses to therapeutic treatments longitudinally. Other uses include infectious disease, inflammation studies, metabolic disease, neurology, gene therapy, stem cell biology, cardiovascular disease, immunology, transplantation biology, and drug metabolism.
Triumph II SPECT/CT System
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) is an in vivo molecular imaging technology that uses the direct emission of gamma rays from inside the research subject to visualize and measure biological processes within living animals. In vivo X-Ray Computed Tomography (CT) is a molecular imaging technology that uses X-rays emitted from a focused radiation source and sensed by a detector. Micro-CT imaging can provide anatomical visualization of bone and soft tissue (using contrast agents).
The Triumph II SPECT/CT System from TriFoil Imaging combines both modalities for the ability to capture two types of images in small animals at the same time. The SPECT Subsystem uses solid-state Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detector technology for detecting a wide gamma-ray energy range of 25-250 keV. This range covers a variety of isotopes (e.g. 99mTc, 123I, and 111In), and is capable of simultaneous multi-isotope imaging. The CT Subsystem has flexible zoom capability to perform a broad range of in- vivo scanning, including whole body imaging in less than a minute.
Small animal SPECT can provide 3-dimensional spatial distributions imaging agents or therapeutics. Drug candidates, cells or biomarkers can be labeled with a gamma-emitting radioisotope and then injected into a study subject to determine the location and concentration. Also, the SPECT image can be fused with an X-Ray CT image to provide anatomical correlation.
Radiotracers for SPECT
The Triumph II system can be used with many unit-dose single photon-emitting low-energy radiotracers that can be ordered from ommercial vendors. These include tracers labeled with radioisotopes such as Tc-99m, I-123, I-125, Tl-201, and others. The Small Animal Imaging Facility provides supporting equipment for preparing and using radiotracers, including a dose calibrator, well counter, shielded fume hood, shielded preparation stations, and storage freezer. Kit preparation of radiotracers is available, as well as some capability for novel tracer synthesis. For longitudinal studies, animals are maintained post-SPECT imaging during radioactive decay in a dedicated vivarium space.
Contact
Kenneth "Kip" Matthews, Ph.D., DABR
Professor of Physics, LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy
Adjunct Professor of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, LSU Vet Med