%A Ashton,Jeffrey R. %A West,Jennifer L. %A Badea,Cristian T. %D 2015 %J Frontiers in Pharmacology %C %F %G English %K CT,Small animal imaging,Nanoparticles,contrast agents,spectral imaging %Q %R 10.3389/fphar.2015.00256 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2015-November-04 %9 Review %+ Cristian T. Badea,Department of Radiology, Center for In Vivo Microscopy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham,NC, USA,cristian.badea@duke.edu %# %! Micro-CT with nanoparticle contrast agents %* %< %T In vivo small animal micro-CT using nanoparticle contrast agents %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2015.00256 %V 6 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1663-9812 %X Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most valuable modalities for in vivo imaging because it is fast, high-resolution, cost-effective, and non-invasive. Moreover, CT is heavily used not only in the clinic (for both diagnostics and treatment planning) but also in preclinical research as micro-CT. Although CT is inherently effective for lung and bone imaging, soft tissue imaging requires the use of contrast agents. For small animal micro-CT, nanoparticle contrast agents are used in order to avoid rapid renal clearance. A variety of nanoparticles have been used for micro-CT imaging, but the majority of research has focused on the use of iodine-containing nanoparticles and gold nanoparticles. Both nanoparticle types can act as highly effective blood pool contrast agents or can be targeted using a wide variety of targeting mechanisms. CT imaging can be further enhanced by adding spectral capabilities to separate multiple co-injected nanoparticles in vivo. Spectral CT, using both energy-integrating and energy-resolving detectors, has been used with multiple contrast agents to enable functional and molecular imaging. This review focuses on new developments for in vivo small animal micro-CT using novel nanoparticle probes applied in preclinical research.