A comparison between a time domain and continuous wave small animal optical imaging system.

We present a phantom study to evaluate the performance of the eXplore Optix (Advanced Research Technologies-GE Healthcare), the first commercially available time-domain tomography system for small animal fluorescence imaging, and compare its capabilities with the widely used IVIS 200 (Xenogen Corporation-Caliper) continuous wave planar imaging system. The eXplore Optix, based on point-wise illumination and collection scheme, is found to be a log order more sensitive with significantly higher detection depth and spatial resolution as compared with the wide-area illumination IVIS 200 under the conditions tested. A time-resolved detection system allows the eXplore Optix to measure the arrival time distribution of fluorescence photons. This enables fluorescence lifetime measurement, absorption mapping, and estimation of fluorescent inclusion depth, which in turn is used by a reconstruction algorithm to calculate the volumetric distribution of the fluorophore concentration. An increased acquisition time and lack of ability to image multiple animals simultaneously are the main drawbacks of the eXplore Optix as compared with the IVIS 200.