Spectral CT distinguishes contrast agents with K-edges only 4 keV apart. Multi-contrast imaging and molecular CT are potential future applications.

Spectral molecular imaging is a new imaging technique able to discriminate and quantify different components of tissue simultaneously at high spatial and high energy resolution. Our MARS scanner is an x-ray based small animal CT system designed to be used in the diagnostic energy range (20 -140 keV). In this paper, we demonstrate the use of the MARS scanner, equipped with the Medipix3RX spectroscopic photon-processing detector, to discriminate fat, calcium, and water in tissue. We present data collected from a sample of lamb meat including bone as an illustrative example of human tissue imaging. The data is analyzed using our 3D Algebraic Reconstruction Algorithm (MARS-ART) and by material decomposition based on a constrained linear least squares algorithm. The results presented here clearly show the quantification of lipid-like, water-like and bone-like components of tissue. However, it is also clear to us that better algorithms could extract more information of clinical interest from our data. Because we are one of the first to present data from multi-energy photonprocessing small animal CT systems, we make the raw, partial and fully processed data available with the intention that others can analyze it using their familiar routines. The raw, partially processed and fully processed data of lamb tissue along with the phantom calibration data can be found at [http://hdl.handle.net/10092/8531].

Pharmacological ascorbate is currently used as an anti-cancer treatment, potentially in combination with radiation therapy, by integrative medicine practitioners. In the acidic, metal-rich tumor environment, ascorbate acts as a pro-oxidant, with a mode of action similar to that of ionizing radiation; both treatments kill cells predominantly by free radical-mediated DNA damage. The brain tumor, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is very resistant to radiation; radiosensitizing GBM cells will improve survival of GBM patients. Here, we demonstrate that a single fraction (6 Gy) of radiation combined with a 1 h exposure to ascorbate (5 mM) sensitized murine glioma GL261 cells to radiation in survival and colony-forming assays in vitro. In addition, we report the effect of a single fraction (4.5 Gy) of whole brain radiation combined with daily intraperitoneal injections of ascorbate (1 mg/kg) in an intracranial GL261 glioma mouse model. Tumor-bearing C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups: one group received a single dose of 4.5 Gy to the brain 8 days after tumor implantation, a second group received daily intraperitoneal injections of ascorbate (day 8–45) after implantation, a third group received both treatments and a fourth control group received no treatment. While radiation delayed tumor progression, intraperitoneal ascorbate alone had no effect on tumor progression. Tumor progression was faster in tumor-bearing mice treated with radiation and daily ascorbate than in those treated with radiation alone. Histological analysis showed less necrosis in tumors treated with both radiation and ascorbate, consistent with a radio-protective effect of ascorbate in vivo. Discrepancies between our in vitro and in vivo results may be explained by differences in the tumor microenvironment, which determines whether ascorbate remains outside the cell, acting as a pro-oxidant, or whether it enters the cells and acts as an anti-oxidant.

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