• 대한방사성의약품학회지
• /
• 제4권1호
• /
• pp.26-31
• /
• 2018

Macrophages play a key role in atherosclerotic plaque formation, but their participation has been discerned largely via ex vivo analyses of atherosclerotic lesions. Therefore, we aimed to identify atherosclerosis on noninvasive in vivo imaging using reporter gene system. This study demonstrated that recruitment of macrophages could be detected in atherosclerotic plaques of Apolipoprotein E knockout (ApoE-/-) mice with a sodium iodide symporter (NIS) gene imaging system using $^{99m}Tc-SPECT$. This novel approach to tracking macrophages to atherosclerotic plaques in vivo could have applications in studies of arteriosclerotic vascular disease.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• 제54권3호
• /
• pp.1016-1023
• /
• 2022

In proton therapy, a highly conformal proton dose can be delivered to the tumor by means of the steep distal dose penumbra at the end of the beam range. The proton beam range, however, is highly sensitive to range uncertainty, which makes accurately locating the proton range in the patient difficult. In-vivo range verification is a method to manage range uncertainty, one of the promising techniques being prompt gamma imaging (PGI). In earlier studies, we proposed gamma electron vertex imaging (GEVI), and constructed a proof-of-principle system. The system successfully demonstrated the GEVI imaging principle for therapeutic proton pencil beams without scanning, but showed some limitations under clinical conditions, particularly for pencil beam scanning proton therapy. In the present study, we upgraded the GEVI system in several aspects and tested the performance improvements such as for range-shift verification in the context of line scanning proton treatment. Specifically, the system showed better performance in obtaining accurate prompt gamma (PG) distributions in the clinical environment. Furthermore, high shift-detection sensitivity and accuracy were shown under various range-shift conditions using line scanning proton beams.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
• /
• 제28권1호
• /
• pp.95-101
• /
• 2007

Recently, small-animal imaging technology has been rapidly developed for longitudinal screening of laboratory animals such as mice and rats. One of newly developed imaging modalities for small animals is an x-ray micro-CT (computed tomography). We have developed two types of x-ray micro-CT systems for small animal imaging. Both systems use flat-panel x-ray detectors and micro-focus x-ray sources to obtain high spatial resolution of $10{\mu}m$. In spite of the relatively large field-of-view (FOV) of flat-panel detectors, the spatial resolution in the whole-body imaging of rats should be sacrificed down to the order of $100{\mu}m$ due to the limited number of x-ray detector pixels. Though the spatial resolution of cone-beam CTs can be improved by moving an object toward an x-ray source, the FOV should be reduced and the object size is also limited. To overcome the limitation of the object size and resolution, we introduce zoom-in micro-tomography for high-resolution imaging of a local region-of-interest (ROI) inside a large object. For zoom-in imaging, we use two kinds of projection data in combination, one from a full FOV scan of the whole object and the other from a limited FOV scan of the ROI. Both of our micro-CT systems have zoom-in micro-tomography capability. One of both is a micro-CT system with a fixed gantry mounted with an x-ray source and a detector. An imaged object is laid on a rotating table between a source and a detector. The other micro-CT system has a rotating gantry with a fixed object table, which makes whole scans without rotating an object. In this paper, we report the results of in vivo small animal study using the developed micro-CTs.

• 한국가시화정보학회지
• /
• 제9권4호
• /
• pp.69-73
• /
• 2011

Butterflies have been known to suck viscous liquids through a long, cylindrical proboscis using the large pressure difference formulated by the cyclic expansion and contraction of a muscular pump located inside their head. However, there are few studies on the liquid-feeding phenomena in a live butterfly, because it is hard to observe the internal morphological structures under in vivo condition. In this study, the dynamic motion of the pump system in a butterfly was in vivo visualized using synchrotron X-ray micro-imaging technique to analyze the liquid-feeding mechanism. The period of the liquid-feeding process is about 0.3sec. The expansion stage is about two times larger than the contraction stage in one cycle. The cyclic variation of pump volume generate large negative suction pressure and the pressure difference inside the long proboscis of a butterfly is estimated to be larger than 1atm.

• Medical Lasers
• /
• 제10권3호
• /
• pp.123-131
• /
• 2021

Optical imaging modalities with properties of real-time, non-invasive, in vivo, and high resolution for image-guided surgery have been widely studied. In this review, we introduce two optical imaging systems, that could be the core of image-guided surgery and introduce the system configuration, implementation, and operation methods. First, we introduce the optical coherence tomography (OCT) system implemented by our research group. This system is implemented based on a swept-source, and the system has an axial resolution of 11 ㎛ and a lateral resolution of 22 ㎛. Second, we introduce a fluorescence imaging system. The fluorescence imaging system was implemented based on the absorption and fluorescence wavelength of indocyanine green (ICG), with a light-emitting diode (LED) light source. To confirm the performance of the two imaging systems, human malignant melanoma cells were injected into BALB/c nude mice to create a xenograft model and using this, OCT images of cancer and pathological slide images were compared. In addition, in a mouse model, an intravenous injection of indocyanine green was used with a fluorescence imaging system to detect real-time images moving along blood vessels and to detect sentinel lymph nodes, which could be very important for cancer staging. Finally, polarization-sensitive OCT to find the boundaries of cancer in real-time and real-time image-guided surgery using a developed contrast agent and fluorescence imaging system were introduced.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• 제27권5호
• /
• pp.295-300
• /
• 2012

Matured dendritic cells (DCs) begin migration with their release from the bone marrow (BM) into the blood and subsequent traffic into peripheral lymphoid and non-lymphoid tissues. Throughout this long movement, migrating DCs must apply specialized skills to reach their target destination. Non-invasive in vivo cell-tracking techniques are necessary to advance immune cell-based therapies. In this study, we used a DiD cell-tracking solution for in vivo dendritic cell tracking in naive mice. We tracked DiD (non-invasive fluorescence dye)-labeled mature dendritic cells using the Near Infrared (NIR) imaging system in normal mice. We examined the immunophenotype of DiD-labeled cells compared with non-labelled mature DCs, and obtained time-serial images of NIR-DC trafficking after mouse footpad injection. In conclusion, we confirmed that DiD-labeled DCs migrated into the popliteal lymph node 24 h after the footpad injection. Here, these data suggested that the cell tracking system with the stable fluorescence dye DiD was useful as a cell tracking tool to advance dendritic cell-based immunotherapy.

• 한국광학회지
• /
• 제25권2호
• /
• pp.67-71
• /
• 2014

혈관 내 OCT (optical coherence tomography) 는 혈관 벽 내부의 3차원적 미세구조를 영상화할 수 있어서 임상에서 각광을 받고 있다. 하지만 아직도 충분하지 못한 이미징 속도, 특히 내시경 프로브의 이미징 광 스캐닝 속도의 부족으로 혈관 길이 방향의 이미징 간격이 실제 시스템의 광학적 해상도보다 5배 이상 커서 혈관 종방향으로의 고해상도 이미징이 얻어지지 못하고 있는 상황이다. 본 논문에서는 초당 350장의 혈관 벽 단층 영상을 제공하는 고속 혈관 내 OCT 시스템을 기술한다. 본 시스템과 내시경 장치를 이용하여 47 mm 길이의 살아있는 토끼 대동맥을 3.7초만에 34 micron의 혈관 종방향 간격으로 얻는데 성공하였다. 34 micron의 종방향 간격은 실제 내시경의 그 방향 광학적 해상도와 비슷한 정도로서 3차원 모든 방향으로의 고해상도 이미징을 구현하였음을 보여준다. 얻어진 이미징 데이터의 3차원 영상 구현을 통해 혈관의 미세구조 및 이미징 전 삽입된 스텐트의 자세한 구조를 보였다.

• 대한핵의학회지
• /
• 제38권2호
• /
• pp.152-160
• /
• 2004

Radioiodide uptake in thyroid follicular epithelial cells, mediated by a plasma membrane transporter, sodium iodide symporter (NIS), provides a first step mechanism for thyroid cancer detection by radioiodide injection and effective radioiodide treatment for patients with invasive, recurrent, and/or metastatic thyroid cancers after total thyroidectomy. NIS gene transfer to tumor cells may significantly and specifically enhance internal radioactive accumulation of tumors following radioiodide administration, and result in better tumor control. NIS gene transfers have been successfully performed in a variety of tumor animal models by either plasmid-mediated transfection or virus (adenovirus or retrovirus)-mediated gene delivery. These animal models include nude mice xenografted with human melanoma, glioma, breast cancer or prostate cancer, rats with subcutaneous thyroid tumor implantation, as well as the rat intracranial glioma model. In these animal models, non-invasive imaging of in vivo tumors by gamma camera scintigraphy after radioiodide or technetium injection has been performed successfully, suggesting that the NIS can serve as an imaging reporter gene for gene therapy trials. In addition, the tumor killing effects of I-131, ReO4-188 and At-211 after NIS gene transfer have been demonstrated in in vitro clonogenic assays and in vivo radioiodide therapy studies, suggesting that NIS gene can also serve as a therapeutic agent when combined with radioiodide injection. Better NIS-mediated imaging and tumor treatment by radioiodide requires a more efficient and specific system of gene delivery with better retention of radioiodide in tumor. Results thus far are, however, promising, and suggest that NIS gene transfer followed by radioiodide treatment will allow non-invasive in vivo imaging to assess the outcome of gene therapy and provide a therapeutic strategy for a variety of human diseases.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• 제14권4호
• /
• pp.424-430
• /
• 2010

In coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy reported until now, conventional microscope objectives are used, so that they are limited for introduction into a living body. Gradient-index (GRIN) rod lenses might be a solution for miniaturized microscope objectives for in-vivo CARS microscopy. However, due to the inherent large amount of chromatic aberration, GRIN rod lenses cannot be utilized for this purpose. CARS imaging catheter, composed of miniaturized microscope objective and fiber bundle, can be introduced into a living body for minimally invasive diagnosis. In order to design the catheter, we have to first investigate design requirements. And then, the optical design is processed with design strategies and intensive computing power to achieve the design requirements. We report the miniaturized objective lens system with diffraction-limited performance and completely corrected chromatic aberrations for an in-vivo CARS imaging catheter.

• 세라미스트
• /
• 제22권3호
• /
• pp.269-280
• /
• 2019

Ceramic layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanohybrids have attracted considerable interest in biomedical science due to their unique structural feature and characteristics in biological condition. Many studies on LDH nanoparticles have been reported in diagnosis applications including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents in order to not only provide better imaging performance through multimodal imaging strategy, but realize therapeutic function which treat cancers in one platform. This review highlights the recent progress in MRI T₁ contrast agent, dual modal imaging system, and MRI-guided drug delivery systems ranging from synthetic method and characterization to evaluation in vitro and in vivo based on the ceramic LDH nanohybrids. Future research directions are also suggested for next-generation bio-imaging contrast agent.