OBJECTIVE Almost all small animal SPECT is performed with pinhole collimators (PH), including single-PH (SPH) and multi-PH (MPH). In the clinical study, not only PH but also parallel-hole collimator (PAH) is often used in planar and SPECT imaging. However, there have been no comparative studies on image quality with various collimators on the small animal imaging. This study compared the basic ...

Recent progress in the development of non-invasive imaging technologies continues to strengthen the role of molecular imaging in biological research. Small animal imaging with bioluminescence has been validated recently in a variety of research models and have been shown to provide continuous quantitative monitoring of the location(s), magnitude, and time-variation of gene delivery and/or expre...

Non-invasive imaging of reporter gene expression using different imaging modalities is increasing its role for the in vivo assessment of molecular processes. Multimodality imaging protocols overcome limitations to a single imaging modality and provide a thorough view of specific processes, often allowing a quantitative measurement and direct visualization of the process in a specific target org...

Animal models of human diseases are increasingly available and are invaluable for studies of organ pathophysiology. Megacolon, abnormal dilatation of the colon not caused by mechanical obstruction, involves the destruction of the autonomic nervous system innervating the colon. Animal models of megacolon include mouse models of Chagas disease and Hirschprung's disease. Small animal imaging has b...

Physiological studies in small animals can be complicated, but the complexity is increased dramatically when performing live-animal synchrotron X-ray imaging studies. Our group has extensive experience in high-resolution liveanimal imaging at the Japanese SPring-8 synchrotron, primarily examining airways in two-dimensions. These experiments normally image an area of 1.8mm x 1.2mm at a pixel res...