High-resolution in-vivo micro-CT scanner for small animals

Small laboratory animals (mice and rats) are widely used in development of drags and treatments. To recognize the internal changes in the very early stage inside the animal body, Skyscan starts development on high-resolution micro-CT scanner for in-vivo 3D-imaging. Initial changes in the bone structure can be found as features in the size range of 10 microns. By this reason a voxel size for reconstructed cross sections has been chosen as < 10microns. Because of full animal may be up to 8cm in diameter the reconstructed cross section format selected as 8000x8000-pixels (float-point). A 2-dimensional detection system with new multi-beam geometry produce dataset for reconstruction of hundreds cross-sections after one scan. Object illuminated by microfocus sealed X-ray source with 5 microns spot size. Continuously variable energy in the range of 20-100kV and energy filters allows estimate material composition like in DEXA systems. Direct streaming of the projection data to the disk reduce irradiation dose to the animal under scanning. Software package can create realistic 3D-images from the set of reconstructed cross sections and calculate internal morphological parameters.