High-resolution whole-body cryo-fluorescence tomography for validating immune-cell probe biodistribution in inflammatory disease models.
Authors: Benjamin I. Leach, Deanne Lister, Stephen R. Adams, Julie Bykowski, Amy B. Schwartz, Patrick McConville, Hemi Dimant, Eric T. Ahrens
This publication introduces cryo-fluorescence tomography (CFT) as a powerful three-dimensional imaging approach for validating the biodistribution of immune-cell imaging probes at near-histological resolution. Using fluorescent perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanoemulsion tracers, the authors demonstrate whole-body visualization of macrophage-associated inflammation across multiple murine disease models, including acute inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease, and solid tumors.
By imaging intact frozen animals at approximately 50-micron voxel resolution, CFT bridges the longstanding resolution gap between in vivo PET and MRI imaging and traditional histology. The study shows that CFT can reveal spatially dispersed inflammatory cell populations that are often missed by tissue-sampling approaches alone, providing an unbiased, whole-body validation method. Multispectral imaging further highlights wavelength-dependent effects of tissue autofluorescence and signal attenuation, offering practical guidance for probe selection and data interpretation in molecular imaging workflows.
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