Research ArticleFEATURED BASIC SCIENCE ARTICLE

Development of a Lensless Radiomicroscope for Cellular-Resolution Radionuclide Imaging

Justin S. Klein, Tae Jin Kim and Guillem Pratx
Journal of Nuclear Medicine March 2023, 64 (3) 479-484; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.122.264021

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure
  • FIGURE 1.
    FIGURE 1.

    Conceptual, physical, and schematic diagram of the LRM. (A) Cells are grown on a glass slide and treated with α- or β-emitting radiopharmaceuticals. The slide is inverted and placed in direct contact with a CMOS imaging sensor. Emitted particles deposit energy in adjacent CMOS pixels, producing a detectable electronic signal. (B) The LRM consists of an imaging sensor (CMOS) that is read out through a compact Raspberry Pi computer (RPI). For live-cell imaging, sensor temperature is regulated by a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller connected to a thermocouple (TC) and thermoelectric cooler (TEC). The computer is also connected to an LED, which can be switched on for brightfield imaging. (C) The β-microscope imaging chamber, filled with medium. (D) Light-tight β-microscope enclosure. The LED used for brightfield imaging is housed in the upper cylinder. Attached to the bottom of the enclosure are the thermoelectric cooler, heat sync and fan.

  • FIGURE 2.
    FIGURE 2.

    LRM physical characterization and calibration. (A) Brightfield image of 1-μm polystyrene sphere with inset line profile showing full width at half maximum. (B) Fourier ring correlation analysis plot showing spatial resolution of RLM.

  • FIGURE 3.
    FIGURE 3.

    High-resolution β-imaging of 18F-FDG in breast cancer cells. MDA-MB-231 cells were imaged using brightfield and β-modes. Images are cropped to 600 × 600 μm from the full 3.7 × 2.8 mm field of view. Total imaging time for β-imaging was 65 min. Scale bar is 50 μm.

  • FIGURE 4.
    FIGURE 4.

    18F-FDG β-imaging of breast cancer cells treated with radiation. β-images of cells receiving 0 Gy (A) and 3 Gy (B). Scale bar is 200 μm. (C) Scatter plot of activity vs. area for treated and untreated cells. (D) Bar graphs of activity per cell, cell size, and cell activity per area.

  • FIGURE 5.
    FIGURE 5.

    Dynamic 18F-FDG imaging of cells. (A) Time–activity curves measured from cell and background ROIs. (B) Cumulative uptake of 18F-FDG by MDA-MB-231 cells, with ROIs shown for cells (blue) and background (orange). Scale bar is 200 μm.

  • FIGURE 6.
    FIGURE 6.

    α-imaging of Po-210 needle source. The needle is visible as a dark shadow in the brightfield image. α-emission is readily localized to the needle source in the merged image. Scale bar is 500 μm.

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