AUTHOR=Dullin Christian , Albers Jonas , Tagat Aishwarya , Lorenzon Andrea , D'Amico Lorenzo , Chiriotti Sabina , Sodini Nicola , Dreossi Diego , Alves Frauke , Bergamaschi Anna , Tromba Giuliana 

TITLE=In vivo low-dose phase-contrast CT for quantification of functional and anatomical alterations in lungs of an experimental allergic airway disease mouse model

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2024.1338846

DOI=10.3389/fmed.2024.1338846

ISSN=2296-858X

ABSTRACT=Synchrotron based propagation based imaging (PBI) is ideally suited for lung imaging and has successfully been applied in a variety of in-vivo small animal studies. Virtually, all these experiments were tailored to achieve extremely high spatial resolution close to the alveolar level, while delivering high x-ray doses that would not permit longitudinal studies. However, the main rational for performing lung imaging studies in-vivo in small animal models is the ability to follow disease progression or to monitor treatment response in the same animal over time. Thus, an in-vivo imaging strategy should ideally allow performing longitudinal studies. Here we demonstrate our findings of using PBI based planar and CT imaging with two different detectors in an experimental allergic airways disease mouse model in comparison to healthy controls. At x-ray dose levels below the once used by commercial small animal CT devices at similar spatial resolutions, we were able to resolve structural changes at a pixel size down to 25 µm and to demonstrate the reduction in elastic recoil in the asthmatic mice in cinematic planar x-ray imaging with a frame rate of 100 fps. Thus, we believe that our approach will permit longitudinal small animal lung disease studies, closely following the mice over longer time spans.