The Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy (CIVM), an NIH-sponsored small animal imaging program for the basic sciences, has recently installed an MILabs U-SPECT-II/CT. The first cardiac perfusion images acquired with the system show uptake of 99mTc-tetrofosmin in beating mouse hearts at a spatial resolution of 0.35 mm, showing tracer uptake in atrial and ventricular walls and tiny tissue parts such as papillary muscles and other structures that have not previously been visible in preclinical PET or SPECT images. The extremely high resolution of this newest technology from MILabs provides information on such things as (kinetic) cardiac function and wall thickening, allowing Duke scientists to explore in further detail the physiology and pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease in mouse models.
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| High resolution 99mTc-Tetrofosmin Cardiac mouse image. Image courtesy of Nicolas Befera M.D. |
The Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy is one of the NIH/NCRR/NIBIB National Biomedical Technology Resource Centers dedicated to developing novel methods for preclinical imaging and applying those methods to important biomedical problems.
