Micro-computed tomography newly developed for in vivo small animal imaging

Objectives The aim of this paper is to report a newly developed micro-computed tomography system for in vivo use.Methods The system was composed of a micro-focus X-ray tube and an image intensifier (I.I.), both of which rotated around the object stage. A guinea pig and a rat were examined. The anesthetized animal was set on the secure object stage. Images of the head of the guinea pig and the tibia/knee joint of the rat were taken. In addition, an image of the rat’s tail was taken. The reconstruction and the image viewing were carried out using I-View software.Results The voxel matrix was 512 × 512 × 384. The voxel sizes ranged from 10 × 10 × 10 µm to 100 × 100 × 100 µm. The exposure time was 17 s, and the reconstruction time was 150 s. The head of the guinea pig and the tibia/knee joint of the rat were observed clearly under 100-µm and 30-µm voxels, respectively. The trabecular bone of the tail was also observed clearly under a 10-µm voxel.Conclusions The newly developed micro-computed tomography system makes it possible to obtain images of anesthetized animals set on a secure object stage. Clear bone images of the small animals could be obtained within a short time.