Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE): A Platform for the Simulation of Light Propagation in Turbid Media

Shenghan Ren,Xueli Chen,Jie Tian,Xiaochao Qu,Ge Wang,Hailong Wang,Jimin Liang,Christof Markus Aegerter

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061304

Abstract

The study of light propagation in turbid media has attracted extensive attention in the field of biomedical optical molecular imaging. In this paper, we present a software platform for the simulation of light propagation in turbid media named the “Molecular Optical Simulation Environment (MOSE)”. Based on the gold standard of the Monte Carlo method, MOSE simulates light propagation both in tissues with complicated structures and through free-space. In particular, MOSE synthesizes realistic data for bioluminescence tomography (BLT), fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT), and diffuse optical tomography (DOT). The user-friendly interface and powerful visualization tools facilitate data analysis and system evaluation. As a major measure for resource sharing and reproducible research, MOSE aims to provide freeware for research and educational institutions, which can be downloaded at http://www.mosetm.net.

Highlights

The optical molecular imaging technique, being able to reveal molecular and cellular activities in a small animal in vivo, has grown into an important tool in biomedical research [1,2,3]
According to the modulation modality of the light source, the optical molecular imaging technique operates in three modes: continuous wave (CW), time domain (TD), and frequency domain (FD), corresponding with a constant intensity light source, short duration laser pulse, and a low frequency modulated light source respectively [9]
In order to validate the accuracy of the Monte Carlo simulation of light propagation, we conducted a real experiment by using a highly sensitive charge-coupled device (CCD) camera

Summary

Introduction

The optical molecular imaging technique, being able to reveal molecular and cellular activities in a small animal in vivo, has grown into an important tool in biomedical research [1,2,3]. According to the modulation modality of the light source, the optical molecular imaging technique operates in three modes: continuous wave (CW), time domain (TD), and frequency domain (FD), corresponding with a constant intensity light source, short duration laser pulse, and a low frequency modulated light source respectively [9]. Both DOT and FMT can operate with TD, FD and CW modes. The devices and procedures of the three optical molecular imaging techniques are different

Methods

Results

Conclusion