In vivo bioluminescence monitoring apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9757037-B2
Application number	US-201214112641-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2012
Priority date	Apr 18, 2011
Publication date	Sep 12, 2017
Grant date	Sep 12, 2017

Abstract

Apparatus for real-time in vivo bioluminescence monitoring in a conscious small animal, comprising a light-tight enclosure ( 4 ) with a base ( 16 ), side wall ( 19 ) and cover ( 20 ) configured for housing the small animal such that it may move freely, a bioluminescence detector system ( 6 ) comprising a light detector ( 22 ) for detecting the light emitted by said small animal connected to a data processing system, and a life-sustaining system ( 8 ) configured for maintaining the small animal alive for a prolonged period of time spanning from a few days to a few weeks.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for real-time in vivo bioluminescence monitoring in a conscious small animal, comprising a light-tight enclosure comprising a base, side wall and cover configured for housing the conscious small animal such that the conscious small animal may move freely, a bioluminescence detector system comprising a light detector for detecting the light emitted by said conscious small animal connected to a data processing system, and a life-sustaining system configured for maintaining the conscious small animal alive for a prolonged period of time spanning from a few days to a few weeks, wherein the apparatus further comprises a light funneling device comprising a light funneling member that extends from the light detector in a diverging manner towards the base, the light funneling member comprising a surface directed towards the base, wherein the surface is light reflecting or light diffusing or a combination of part reflecting and part diffusing, wherein the light funneling device further comprises a central light-redirecting surface extending from the base comprising a surface that is light reflecting or light diffusing or a combination of part reflecting and part diffusing configured to re-direct light emitted from the conscious small animal towards the surface of the light funneling member.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the life-sustaining system comprises a remotely controllable ventilation system connected to the data processing system.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a temperature sensor configured to measure the environmental temperature in the light-tight enclosure and a heat exchanger connected to the data processing system and configured to control the environmental temperature in the light-tight enclosure.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the life-sustaining system comprises a remotely controllable source of light connected to the data processing system.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the life-sustaining system comprises a remotely controllable and actionable food delivery device connected to the data processing system.

6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the food delivery device comprises a feeding tube in which may be inserted food, the feeding tube comprising a window at a bottom end of the tube proximate a base of the light-tight enclosure configured for providing access to the food, the food delivery device further comprising a food access closure device remotely actuatable to close access to food through the window.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the food access closure device comprises a closure tube coaxially and slidably mounted around the feeding tube and coupled to a remotely controlled actuator configured to lift or to rotate the closure tube to open or close the feeding window.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the food is in the form of pellets stacked vertically, the lowest pellet resting on a bottom end of the tube positioned at or above the base.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the light funneling member has a substantially conical shape.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the central light-redirecting surface comprises the shape of a cone or a generally tapered shape.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the light-tight enclosure is generally cylindrical.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the light detector comprises a photomultiplier tube (PMT).

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an animal activity related system comprising:
a movement detector; and/or
an activity station.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the delivery of food, liquid, light, and heat in the light-tight enclosure are controlled by the data processing system.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the surface of the light funneling member is configured to minimize internal loss of light and to channel the light emitted from the conscious small animal to the light detector.

16. A method for non-invasive real-time in vivo bioluminescence monitoring in a conscious small animal comprising:
placing a conscious small animal expressing a luminescent reporter gene under the control of a gene of interest in an apparatus according to claim 1 ; and
monitoring the light emitted by said conscious small animal which is detected by the bioluminescence detector system.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the conscious small animal placed into said apparatus is a rodent, an amphibian, a reptile or a bird.

18. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said luminescent reporter gene is the gene encoding a luciferase.

19. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said conscious small animal is a transgenic animal or an animal in which at least one organ or tissue has been transduced with a vector harboring a luminescent reporter gene under the control of a gene of interest.

20. The method according to claim 16 , wherein the conscious small animal has been injected with a substrate of the luminescent reporter gene's product prior to placing said animal in the light-tight enclosure.

Assignees

• Schibler Ueli
• Liani Andre
• Saini Camille
• Bonacina Luigi
• Wolf Jean-Pierre
• Univ Geneve

Inventors

• Schibler Ueli
• Liani Andre
• Saini Camille
• Bonacina Luigi
• Wolf Jean-Pierre

Classifications

• A01K1/031 Primary

  Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals · CPC title

• G01N21/763

  Bioluminescence · CPC title

• A01K29/005

  Monitoring or measuring activity · CPC title

• A61B5/0059 Primary

  using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence (photoacoustic A61B5/0093; optical measurement of heart rate A61B5/02416; optical measurement of blood flow A61B5/0261; optical measurement of analytes A61B5/1455) · CPC title