Liquid optical phantoms mimicking spectral characteristics of laboratory mouse biotissues

Optical phantoms mimicking optical properties of real biotissues in the visible and IR spectral regions are developed based on measurements of the spectral characteristics of ex vivo samples of laboratory mouse biotissues. The phantoms are composed of aqueous solutions of Lipofundin, Indian ink and red ink with different spectral characteristics. The deviations of the measured absorption and scattering coefficients of phantoms in the wavelength range 480 – 580 nm from the corresponding values for real biotissues do not exceed 25% and 2%, respectively. For phantoms in the wavelength region 580 – 880 nm, the deviations of the absorption coefficient do not exceed 40% and the deviations of the scattering coefficient do not exceed 25%. These values, in general, fall within the range of variations for different individual mice of one strain.