Abstract
Aim. Researchers have limited access to systems dedicated to imaging small laboratory animals. This paper aims to investigate the feasibility and merits of performing preclinical imaging on clinical systems. Materials and Methods. Scans were performed on rat and mouse models of diseases or injuries on four radiology systems, tomosynthesis, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET-CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), based on the availability at the author's institute. Results. Tomosysthesis delineated soft tissue anatomy and hard tissue structure with superb contrast and spatial resolution at minimal scan time and effort. CT allowed high resolution volumetric visualization of bones. Molecular imaging with PET was useful for detecting cancerous tissue in mouse but at the expense of poor resolution. MRI depicted abnormal or intervened tissue at quality and resolution sufficient for experimental studies. The paper discussed limitations of the clinical systems in preclinical imaging as well as challenges regarding the need of additional gadgets, modifications, or upgrades required for longitudinally scanning animals under anesthesia while monitoring their vital signs. Conclusion. Clinical imaging technologies can potentially make cost-effective and efficient contributions to preclinical efforts in obtaining anatomical, structural, and functional information from the underlying tissue while minimally compromising the data quality in certain situations.
Highlights
Research institutes and pharmaceutical industry have been adopting in vivo preclinical imaging technologies to sustain their cutting edge bioscience research with translational focus and accelerate drug discovery processes [1,2,3,4]
Installing a centralized small animal imaging facility within the country or a geographical region would have been an option to rectify the issue, but this has yet to be realized as in the case of the author’s current country of employment. In those instances where the research or discovery demands preclinical imaging, but a special system for performing the task is lacking; the use of clinical radiology systems installed in a typical university hospital has been considered as a viable, but challenging, alternative to support the ongoing preclinical research [7,8,9,10,11]
This paper aims to demonstrate the strategic value of such practice and its merits in the sense that the acquired images may not be the highest grade but with sufficient qualifications to meet the preclinical imaging needs
Summary
Research institutes and pharmaceutical industry have been adopting in vivo preclinical imaging technologies to sustain their cutting edge bioscience research with translational focus and accelerate drug discovery processes [1,2,3,4]. Installing a centralized small animal imaging facility within the country or a geographical region would have been an option to rectify the issue, but this has yet to be realized as in the case of the author’s current country of employment. In those instances where the research or discovery demands preclinical imaging, but a special system for performing the task is lacking; the use of clinical radiology systems installed in a typical university hospital has been considered as a viable, but challenging, alternative to support the ongoing preclinical research [7,8,9,10,11]. Extreme modifications in hardware, such as gradient coil insertion or software upgrades, were excluded from the scope of the paper, but additional gadgets or considerations were discussed for longitudinally scanning small animals under anesthesia while monitoring their vital signs
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