Study of kinetics and distribution of Photogem® in animal liver through fluorescence imaging

Abstract

In this work the pharmacokinetics and spatial distribution of Photogem in rat liver have been evaluated using in vivo fluorescence imaging. The imaging system is basically composed by a violet-blue light source, a CCD color camera connected to a computer, and filters. During the total investigation time (90 minutes), RGB color images were acquisitioned at 15 min interval. For image analysis a Matlab routine was set to separate the RGB component and to plot the mean intensity of a selected region of interest. The results have shown that the major liver autofluorescence signal (G component) remained constant. The Photogem fluorescence detected at liver surface (R component) presents a peak around 30 min. The spatial distribution of Photogem shows heterogeneity and is still under analysis and discussion. © 2009 Springer-Verlag.