We describe a new light transport model, which was applied to three-dimensional lifetime imaging of Förster resonance energy transfer in mice in vivo. The model is an approximation to the radiative transfer equation and combines light diffusion and ray optics. This approximation is well adopted to wide-field time-gated intensity-based data acquisition. Reconstructed image data are presented and compared with results obtained by using the telegraph equation approximation. The new approach provides improved recovery of absorption and scattering parameters while returning similar values for the fluorescence parameters.

© 2011 Optical Society of America

1. J. McGinty, D. W. Stuckey, V. Y. Soloviev, R. Laine, M. Wylezinska-Arridge, D. J. Wells, S. R. Arridge, P. M. W. French, J. V. Hajnal, and A. Sardini, “In vivo fluorescence lifetime tomography of a FRET probe expressed in mouse,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1907–1917 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
2. J. R. Lakowicz, in Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy(Plenum, 1999).
3. D. L. Andrews and D. S. Bradshaw, “Virtual photons, dipole fields and energy transfer: a quantum electrodynamical approach,” Eur. J. Phys. 25, 845–858 (2004). [CrossRef]
4. S. R. Arridge and J. Schotland, “Optical tomography: forward and inverse problems,” Inverse Probl. 25, 123010 (2009). [CrossRef]
5. V. Ntziachristos, “Fluorescence molecular imaging,” Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. 8, 1–33 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
6. M. A. O’Leary, D. A. Boas, X. D. Li, B. Chance, and A. G. Yodh, “Fluorescence lifetime imaging in turbid media,” Opt. Lett. 21, 158–160 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
7. A. T. N. Kumar, J. Skoch, B. J. Bacskai, D. A. Boas, and A. K. Dunn, “Fluorescence-lifetime-based tomography for turbid media,” Opt. Lett. 30, 3347–3349 (2005). [CrossRef]
8. A. T. Kumar, S. B. Raymond, G. Boverman, D. A. Boas, and B. J. Bacskai, “Time resolved fluorescence tomography of turbid media based on lifetime contrast,” Opt. Express 14, 12255–12270 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
9. R. E. Nothdurft, S. V. Patwardhan, W. Akers, Y. Ye, S. Achilefu, and J. P. Culver, “In vivo fluorescence lifetime tomography,” J. Biomed. Opt. 14, 024004 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
10. V. Gaind, K. J. Webb, S. Kularatne, and C. A. Bouman, “Towards in vivo imaging of intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer parameters,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 26, 1805–1813 (2009). [CrossRef]
11. V. Gaind, S. Kularatne, P. S. Low, and K. J. Webb, “Deep-tissue imaging of intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy-transfer parameters,” Opt. Lett. 35, 1314–1316 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
12. C. Dunsby, P. M. P. Lanigan, J. McGinty, D. S. Elson, J. Requejo-Isidro, I. Munro, N. Galletly, F. McCann, B. Treanor, B. Onfelt, D. M. Davis, M. A. A. Neil, and P. M. W. French, “An electronically tunable ultrafast laser source applied to fluorescence imaging and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy,” J. Phys. D 37, 3296–3303 (2004). [CrossRef]
13. J. McGinty, J. Requejo-Isidro, I. Munro, C. B. Talbot, P. A. Kellett, J. D. Hares, C. Dunsby, M. A. A. Neil, and P. M. W. French, “Signal-to-noise characterization of time-gated intensifiers used for wide-field time-domain FLIM,” J. Phys. D 42, 135103 (2009). [CrossRef]
14. V. Y. Soloviev, K. B. Tahir, J. McGinty, D. S. Elson, M. A. A. Neil, P. M. W. French, and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime imaging by using time gated data acquisition,” Appl. Opt. 46, 7384–7391 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
15. V. Y. Soloviev, J. McGinty, K. B. Tahir, M. A. A. Neil, A. Sardini, J. V. Hajnal, S. R. Arridge, and P. M. W. French, “Fluorescence lifetime tomography of live cells expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein embedded in a scattering medium exhibiting background autofluorescence,” Opt. Lett. 32, 2034–2036(2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
16. J. McGinty, V. Y. Soloviev, K. B. Tahir, R. Laine, D. W. Stuckey, J. V. Hajnal, A. Sardini, P. M. W. French, and S. R. Arridge, “Three-dimensional imaging of Förster resonance energy transfer in heterogeneous turbid media by tomographic fluorescent lifetime imaging,” Opt. Lett. 34, 2772–2774(2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
17. V. V. Sobolev, A Treatise on Radiative Transfer (Van Nostrand, 1963).
18. S. R. Arridge, “Optical tomography in medical imaging,” Inverse Probl. 15, R41–R93 (1999). [CrossRef]
19. V. Y. Soloviev, C. D’Andrea, P. S. Mohan, G. Valentini, R. Cubeddu, and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime optical tomography with discontinuous Galerkin discretisation scheme,” Biomed. Opt. Express 1, 998–1013 (2010). [CrossRef]
20. V. Y. Soloviev and S. R. Arridge, “Optical tomography in weakly scattering media in the presence of highly scattering inclusions,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 440–451 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
21. V. Y. Soloviev and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime optical tomography in weakly scattering media in the presence of highly scattering inclusions,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 28, 1513–1523 (2011). [CrossRef]
22. H. C. van de Hulst, in Light Scattering by Small Particles(Dover, 1981).
23. M. Born and E. Wolf, Principles of Optics (Pergamon, 1968).
24. J. Nocedal and S. J. Wright, Numerical Optimization(Springer-Verlag, 1999). [CrossRef]
25. V. Y. Soloviev and L. V. Krasnosselskaia, “Dynamically adaptive mesh refinement technique for image reconstruction in optical tomography,” Appl. Opt. 45, 2828–2837 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
26. V. Y. Soloviev, “Mesh adaptation technique for Fourier-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging,” Med. Phys. 33, 4176–4183(2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
27. R. L. Siddon, “Fast calculation of the exact radiological path for a three-dimensional CT array,” Med. Phys. 12, 252–255(1985). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
28. P. Perona and J. Malik, “Scale-space and edge detection using anisotropic diffusion,” IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell. 12, 629–639 (1990). [CrossRef]

Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng.

• V. Ntziachristos, “Fluorescence molecular imaging,” Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. 8, 1–33 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Appl. Opt.

• V. Y. Soloviev, K. B. Tahir, J. McGinty, D. S. Elson, M. A. A. Neil, P. M. W. French, and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime imaging by using time gated data acquisition,” Appl. Opt. 46, 7384–7391 (2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• V. Y. Soloviev and L. V. Krasnosselskaia, “Dynamically adaptive mesh refinement technique for image reconstruction in optical tomography,” Appl. Opt. 45, 2828–2837 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Biomed. Opt. Express

• V. Y. Soloviev, C. D’Andrea, P. S. Mohan, G. Valentini, R. Cubeddu, and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime optical tomography with discontinuous Galerkin discretisation scheme,” Biomed. Opt. Express 1, 998–1013 (2010). [CrossRef]
• V. Y. Soloviev and S. R. Arridge, “Optical tomography in weakly scattering media in the presence of highly scattering inclusions,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 440–451 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• J. McGinty, D. W. Stuckey, V. Y. Soloviev, R. Laine, M. Wylezinska-Arridge, D. J. Wells, S. R. Arridge, P. M. W. French, J. V. Hajnal, and A. Sardini, “In vivo fluorescence lifetime tomography of a FRET probe expressed in mouse,” Biomed. Opt. Express 2, 1907–1917 (2011). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Eur. J. Phys.

• D. L. Andrews and D. S. Bradshaw, “Virtual photons, dipole fields and energy transfer: a quantum electrodynamical approach,” Eur. J. Phys. 25, 845–858 (2004). [CrossRef]

IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell.

• P. Perona and J. Malik, “Scale-space and edge detection using anisotropic diffusion,” IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Machine Intell. 12, 629–639 (1990). [CrossRef]

Inverse Probl.

• S. R. Arridge and J. Schotland, “Optical tomography: forward and inverse problems,” Inverse Probl. 25, 123010 (2009). [CrossRef]
• S. R. Arridge, “Optical tomography in medical imaging,” Inverse Probl. 15, R41–R93 (1999). [CrossRef]

J. Biomed. Opt.

• R. E. Nothdurft, S. V. Patwardhan, W. Akers, Y. Ye, S. Achilefu, and J. P. Culver, “In vivo fluorescence lifetime tomography,” J. Biomed. Opt. 14, 024004 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

J. Opt. Soc. Am. A

• V. Gaind, K. J. Webb, S. Kularatne, and C. A. Bouman, “Towards in vivo imaging of intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer parameters,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 26, 1805–1813 (2009). [CrossRef]
• V. Y. Soloviev and S. R. Arridge, “Fluorescence lifetime optical tomography in weakly scattering media in the presence of highly scattering inclusions,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 28, 1513–1523 (2011). [CrossRef]

J. Phys. D

• C. Dunsby, P. M. P. Lanigan, J. McGinty, D. S. Elson, J. Requejo-Isidro, I. Munro, N. Galletly, F. McCann, B. Treanor, B. Onfelt, D. M. Davis, M. A. A. Neil, and P. M. W. French, “An electronically tunable ultrafast laser source applied to fluorescence imaging and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy,” J. Phys. D 37, 3296–3303 (2004). [CrossRef]
• J. McGinty, J. Requejo-Isidro, I. Munro, C. B. Talbot, P. A. Kellett, J. D. Hares, C. Dunsby, M. A. A. Neil, and P. M. W. French, “Signal-to-noise characterization of time-gated intensifiers used for wide-field time-domain FLIM,” J. Phys. D 42, 135103 (2009). [CrossRef]

Med. Phys.

• V. Y. Soloviev, “Mesh adaptation technique for Fourier-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging,” Med. Phys. 33, 4176–4183(2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• R. L. Siddon, “Fast calculation of the exact radiological path for a three-dimensional CT array,” Med. Phys. 12, 252–255(1985). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Express

• A. T. Kumar, S. B. Raymond, G. Boverman, D. A. Boas, and B. J. Bacskai, “Time resolved fluorescence tomography of turbid media based on lifetime contrast,” Opt. Express 14, 12255–12270 (2006). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• V. Y. Soloviev, J. McGinty, K. B. Tahir, M. A. A. Neil, A. Sardini, J. V. Hajnal, S. R. Arridge, and P. M. W. French, “Fluorescence lifetime tomography of live cells expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein embedded in a scattering medium exhibiting background autofluorescence,” Opt. Lett. 32, 2034–2036(2007). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• J. McGinty, V. Y. Soloviev, K. B. Tahir, R. Laine, D. W. Stuckey, J. V. Hajnal, A. Sardini, P. M. W. French, and S. R. Arridge, “Three-dimensional imaging of Förster resonance energy transfer in heterogeneous turbid media by tomographic fluorescent lifetime imaging,” Opt. Lett. 34, 2772–2774(2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• V. Gaind, S. Kularatne, P. S. Low, and K. J. Webb, “Deep-tissue imaging of intramolecular fluorescence resonance energy-transfer parameters,” Opt. Lett. 35, 1314–1316 (2010). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• M. A. O’Leary, D. A. Boas, X. D. Li, B. Chance, and A. G. Yodh, “Fluorescence lifetime imaging in turbid media,” Opt. Lett. 21, 158–160 (1996). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• A. T. N. Kumar, J. Skoch, B. J. Bacskai, D. A. Boas, and A. K. Dunn, “Fluorescence-lifetime-based tomography for turbid media,” Opt. Lett. 30, 3347–3349 (2005). [CrossRef]

Other

• J. R. Lakowicz, in Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy(Plenum, 1999).
• V. V. Sobolev, A Treatise on Radiative Transfer (Van Nostrand, 1963).
• H. C. van de Hulst, in Light Scattering by Small Particles(Dover, 1981).
• M. Born and E. Wolf, Principles of Optics (Pergamon, 1968).
• J. Nocedal and S. J. Wright, Numerical Optimization(Springer-Verlag, 1999). [CrossRef]

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