Volumetric tomography of fluorescent proteins through small animals in vivo

doi:10.1073/pnas.0504628102

Volumetric tomography of fluorescent proteins through small animals in vivo

^†Laboratory for Bio-optics and Molecular Imaging, Center for Molecular Imaging Research, and ^‡Molecular Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129; and ^§Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 71110 Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Edited by Britton Chance, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, and approved October 6, 2005 (received for review June 3, 2005)

Abstract

Volumetric detection and accurate quantification of fluorescent proteins in entire animals would greatly enhance our ability to monitor biological processes in vivo. Here we present a quantitative tomographic technique for visualization of superficial and deep-seated (>2–3 mm) fluorescent protein activity in vivo. We demonstrate noninvasive imaging of lung tumor progression in a murine model, as well as imaging of gene delivery using a herpes virus vector. This technology can significantly improve imaging capacity over the current state of the art and should find wide in vivo imaging applications in drug discovery, immunology, and cancer research.

Footnotes

↵ ¶ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: vasilis{at}helix.mgh.harvard.edu.
Author contributions: Y.S. and V.N. designed research; G.Z., H.K., H.S., J.R., J.G., and Y.S. performed research; G.Z. and J.R. analyzed data; and G.Z., R.W., and V.N. wrote the paper.
Conflict of interest statement: R.W. is a founding member of VisEn Medical, a molecular imaging company. V.N. has financial interests in VisEn Medical.
This paper was submitted directly (Track II) to the PNAS office.
Abbreviations: CCD, charge-coupled device; CT, computed tomography; FP, fluorescent protein; FPT, FP tomography; NIR, near-IR; YFP, yellow FP.