Full-angle optical imaging of near-infrared fluorescent probes implanted in small animals

To provide a valuable experimental platform for in vivo biomedical research of small animal model with fluorescence mediated approach, we developed a whole-body near-infrared fluorescence molecular imaging system as described in this paper. This system is based on a sensitive CCD camera and has the ability to achieve 360° full-angle source illuminations and projections capture of the targets to obtain the dense sampling by performing rotational scan. The measurement accuracy is validated from cylinder phantom experiments by the comparison between the experimental data and theoretical predictions. Finally, we also present typical in vivo images of fluorescent tube implanted into the mouse body. The results are promising and have proved the system imaging performance for macroscopic optical biomedical research.