<em>In vivo</em> low-dose phase-contrast CT for quantification of functional and anatomical alterations in lungs of an experimental allergic airway disease mouse model

INTRODUCTION: Synchrotron-based propagation-based imaging (PBI) is ideally suited for lung imaging and has successfully been applied in a variety of in vivo small animal studies. Virtually all these experiments were tailored to achieve extremely high spatial resolution close to the alveolar level while delivering high x-ray doses that would not permit longitudinal studies. However, the main rationale for performing lung imaging studies in vivo in small animal models is the ability to …