Micro-modulated luminescence tomography

Abstract

Imaging depth of optical microscopy has been fundamentally limited to millimeter or sub-millimeter due to light scattering. X-ray microscopy can resolve spatial details of few microns deeply inside a sample but the contrast resolution is still inadequate to depict heterogeneous features at cellular or sub-cellular levels. To enhance and enrich biological contrast at large imaging depth, various nanoparticles are introduced and become essential to basic research and molecular medicine. Nanoparticles can be functionalized as imaging probes, similar to fluorescent and bioluminescent proteins. LiGa5O8:Cr3+ nanoparticles were recently synthesized to facilitate luminescence energy storage with x-ray pre-excitation and the subsequently stimulated luminescence emission by visible/near-infrared (NIR) light. In this paper, we suggest a micro-modulated luminescence tomography (MLT) approach to quantify a nanophosphor distribution in a thick biological sample with high resolution. Our numerical simulation studies demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.