Synchrotron X-Ray-Based Functional and Anatomical Lung Imaging Techniques

Lung diseases are a major burden of public health especially in developed countries and therefore continue to be an active interest in preclinical and clinical research. Due to the complex structure and motion of the lung, an in vivo or in situ analysis would be very beneficial. However, this is very challenging for virtually all imaging technologies in small animal models of lung disease due to the small size of the organ and its rapid breathing motion. To study lung disease in detail, the interaction of molecular events, anatomical alterations, and changes in the lung function need to be assessed in parallel. The use of synchrotron light sources has enabled the development of several lung imaging techniques such as phase-contrast CT, 4D lung imaging, virtual histology of lung tissue, k-edge subtraction imaging for measuring regional lung ventilation and perfusion, as well as speckle-based airflow measurements. The application of these techniques has allowed to gain more insight into anatomical alterations as well as functional parameters in small animal lung disease models, which will be demonstrated in this chapter