There
has been a rapid growth in small animal imaging (SAI) facilities worldwide.
These centers are established to provide non-invasive, high resolution, cost
–effective and state –of –the –art both ex –vivo and in –vivo imaging support.
SAI is used mainly by the pharma companies and research institutes aiming at
studying different disease models. Industry definitely has a promising future,
as confirmed by a study conducted by Allied Market Research, which indicates
the market is likely to generate $ 2.1 billion during the forecast period 2013
to 2020. The most important challenge faced by the SAI equipment makers is to
lower the cost to encourage broader adoption rate.
Perspective &
Current Technologies
Developments
in biomedical sciences have improved owing to the introduction of several
innovative imaging technologies over the past 5 to 6 years. In addition, animal
models that are being widely used coupled with pre-clinical sciences; searching
ways to carry out animal experiments efficiently is a major factor ensuring
both success as well as timeliness of a research. On the other hand
non-invasive technologies has proved to be a highly valuable way for conducting
such experiments and have increased the recent demand in small animal imaging.
This review is narrowed down up on 3 modalities. These include optical imaging,
PET and PET and they are made available for scientists who intend to carry out
oncological investigations.
Popular Applications
of In Vivo Imaging
In
vivo or non-invasive optical imaging is particularly beneficial for the
research of neurodegenerative diseases. Conventional methods have been long
used to get a complete reliance when it comes to accessing brain tissue. This
for the major part is the only post-mortem. However, in vivo optical imaging
allows the extensive study of tissues that are within contextual influences of
the animal. Apart from this the technique contributes generously in lowering
the number of animal used in experiments and developments of drug. A recent
study shows that owing to its veracity as well as sensitivity, in vivo can now
be used effectively for inspecting tumour dynamic morphology. Besides this, non
–invasive imaging now uses bioluminescence as an effective tool to probe into
graft Vs host disease.
Competitive
Landscape
PerkinElmer Inc. (PKI) is a well know company in
the sector. News published in the Cwruobserver the company whose research
portfolio consists of instrumentation for in vivo imaging among other is
expected to generate about $532.10M by end of 2016. Researchers at the famous Duke
University have created genetically modified zebrafish. Research analysts at Allied Market Research
are confident that this would definitely hold answers for questions on tissues
regeneration. Researchers at the university say that their findings would provide
a platform for both quantitative and large –scale small animal imaging of
regenerating skin. Commenting on their discovery James B. Duke and Kenneth D.
Poss said "Before we can fully understand tissue
regeneration, we need to be able to monitor what individual cells are
doing,". They further added "This is a cutting-edge way to visualize
hundreds or thousands of cells at once in a regenerating tissue.
"
In another development, one of its kind
transformable PET systems was considered feasible. The system is capable of
imaging during as well as after the irradiation. What is most commendable is
that this miniature
OpenPET system is build by a team of disctinguished researchers from the
reputed National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) located in Chiba,
Japan. The team is led by Taiga Yamaya. Hideaki Tashima the first author said "It is hard to satisfy all imaging requirements at the same time with one
mode," said first author Hideaki Tashima. He explained "Therefore the
transform system works well – we can minimize the sensitivity loss in practical
use by switching between the two modes." The dual-mode scanner also saves
space and is more economical than two separate PET systems. These two modes are
the open mode and closed mode.
AMR’s market research report titled “World SmallAnimal Imaging (In-Vivo) Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2013 – 2020”
takes a closer look at the key drivers, restraints and opportunities that are
influencing market growth. Research analysts conducting the study see greater
opportunities in the Asia –Pacific region. As per the report this region is
expected to register a CAGR of about 11.5 percent by 2020.
